Olympics

Solvable opening tasks for Austria’s judoka

The draw for the Olympic judo competitions has brought Austria's participants "all solvable tasks in the first fight", according to head coach Yvonne Snir-Bönisch. Most of her protégés only want to find out who their opponent will be on the day of the competition, so they have to be careful with their communication during preparation. The opening hurdle in the mixed team competition is Germany.

Katharina Tanzer is the first Austrian to compete on Saturday in the up to 48 kg category, where she will face Wong Ka Lee from Hong Kong, who is ranked behind her. For Samuel Gaßner (-73), Hasan Bayan from Syria is a beatable opponent. Lubjana Piovesana (-63) is favored against Esmigul Kujulowa from Kazakhstan, as is Wachid Borchashvili (-81) against Mohammad Samim Faizada from Afghanistan.

The winner of the pairing between Aina Laura Rasoanaivo Razafy from Madagascar and Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown from Great Britain awaits Tokyo silver medallist Michaela Polleres. Aaron Fara (-100) will be up against Aaron Wolf from Japan, who won the gold medal in Tokyo and is ranked 13th in the Olympic ranking required for participation in Paris. Fara is 21st in this ranking.