Gold and Bronze for Israel at the World Judo Championships U18
Perfect start: Ella Bar-Lev won gold and Agam Noy won bronze in the U48 kg category. Hershko: "A historic achievement with two athletes on the podium."
The first day of the World Judo Championships for cadets (U18) ended with two medals for the Israeli national team in the same weight category (U48 kg). Ella Bar-Lev won the gold medal and the title of world champion, and Agam Noy won the bronze medal.
Bar-Lev began the day of fights with a victory in the first round with a yuko advantage over Kunil Ayvazali from Azerbaijan, continued with an impressive ippon victory over Mishaal Altanshahgai from Mongolia in the round of 16, and in the quarterfinals achieved another ippon over Charos Hikmatova from Uzbekistan. Her great form continued in the semifinal match where she defeated Mikaela Santos from Brazil by ippon, a victory that earned her a historic place in the final.
In the final, she met the world number four, Mailys Deppe from Belgium. Both athletes showed control and the fight went into golden score, where Bar-Lev managed to turn the Belgian and perform a turnover and a sankaku (triangle) hold to win the U18 world champion title.
Agam Noy started the day of fights with an ippon victory over Chuhovtkan from Kazakhstan, continued with a victory over Maria Valencia from Chile, but was stopped in the quarterfinal stage with a loss to Anna Maria Orishchenko from Russia. Following the loss, she dropped to the repechage where she won by penalties against Ludovica Storian from Italy and qualified for the bronze medal fight, where she faced Mikaela Santos from Brazil. The Brazilian's illegal armbar execution led to the fight being stopped and a consultation, at the end of which the judges awarded the victory to Agam.
Shani Hershko, head coach of the Israeli national teams:
"An excellent competition day for the Israeli national team. A historic achievement was recorded with two athletes on the podium in the same weight category. Ella Bar-Lev presented an impressive competition day on the way to gold, and Agam Sol Noy recorded an excellent achievement with the bronze medal. Congratulations to the athletes and the professional staff of the cadet national team — Artur Kataev, Tal Almog, Tohar Butbul and Hinko Mada — for professional work and a joint work model that proves itself. The focus is on the continuation of the competition."
Judo Association Chairman Moshe Ponti:
"Time after time, Israeli judo proves that it has a promising future, and this happens thanks to the excellent work of the national teams' coaching staff led by Shani and thanks to the athletes who work hard every single day. Well done to the athletes who made a huge achievement, warm congratulations to Ella and Agam and the coaching staff led by Shani Hershko."
