By Zhifan Liu
(Reuters) – Japan’s Aaron Wolf relinquished his Olympic under-100kg crown after losing in the early judo action at the Paris Games on Thursday, while Germany’s Anna-Maria Wagner scrapped her way into the women’s under-78kg semi-finals.
In a very open class, Wolf was unable to recover after conceding an early waza-ari to 23-year-old Georgian Ilia Sulamanidze and bowed out in the quarter-finals.
Born to a Japanese mother and American father, Wolf still has a chance to claim a bronze medal through the repechage, while Sulamanidze will face world number 14 Daniel Eich of Switzerland in the semi-finals.
In the other semi, Russian-born world champion Zelym Kotsoiev, now representing Azerbaijan, will fight Muzaffarbek Turoboyev of Uzbekistan, the 2022 world champion.
Wagner, who won bronze in Tokyo three years ago, faced fierce opposition in her quarter-final against Japanese Rika Takayama but won by ippon to set up a clash with Israel’s Inbar Lanir, the 2023 world champion.
In the other semi-final, Italy’s world number one Alice Bellandi will take on Portugal’s Patricia Sampaio, who took less than a minute to overcome China’s Ma Zhenzhao by ippon.
There was dejection in the stands earlier as French judoka Madeleine Malonga, a silver medallist in Tokyo, was knocked out by Sampaio in less than a minute in her opening bout.
There was more home disappointment when Aurelien Diesse was beaten in the round of 16 by Peter Paltchik of Israel.
For the first day since the start of the judo competition on Saturday, the host nation will now not win a medal.
(Reporting by Zhifan Liu in Paris, Editing by Ken Ferris)
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