This morning indeed opened the second phase of Olympic qualification. Launched right here in Ulaanbaatar last year, the qualification is intensifying before our eyes. We see it, we feel it and it is a pleasure. Of course, there is still a long way to go before Paris 2024. We will also first go through the World Judo Masters Budapest 2023 this summer, a competition that will bring its share of surprises and changes in the world hierarchy.
We observe that if in certain categories things are becoming a little clearer, this is not the case everywhere. For example, the -60kg men are still undecided, with the defeat in the first round of the world number one in Mongolia.
Everything can still evolve before the ranking begins to crystallise but let's not project ourselves so far ahead yet and let's take advantage of what the 129 athletes of the day had to offer us, a great show, in harmony with the Olympic Day theme: Let's move!
At -48kg, we saw Hikari Yoshioka, coming from the juniors and already performing at the highest level. In the -60kg category, Ryuju Nagayama gave us a judo lesson, while Gefen Primo (ISR) was the opportunist but also the deserving winner of the -52kg women. Baskhuu Yondonperenlei brought joy and happiness for the public and the whole of Mongolia after his victory in the men's -66kg division and in the last category, we once again enjoyed the Canadian show with Deguchi and Klimkait.
What a day it was and what a day it will be tomorrow with four more categories. Follow the action from 11am, local time, the final block being at 17:00. You can watch live at https://judotv.com and don't forget the Golden Score Show at the end of the day to get the full recap of the competition.