Saywell secures bronze medal at tournament in Veneto

A team of Maltese judokas recently participated in the prestigious Judo Vittorio Veneto tournament in northern Italy.

The international event is now in its 23rd edition and again this year the organisers reported a huge entry of 1,600 judokas, representing 230 teams from 12 countries.

The Malta Judo Federation squad was made up of Jeremy Saywell (junior 66kgs), Brent Law (60kgs), James Falzon (66kgs) and Joanna Camilleri (63kgs).

In Italy, they were accompanied by Marcon Bezzina.

Saywell started off by eliminating Mirco Schiocchet by Ippon (full points). He then met Marco Maietta and although the Maltese junior was most of the time ahead after a yuko (five points), it was Maietta who claimed the bout. Maietta eventually finished runner-up to 66kgs category winner Matteo Piras.

As Maietta had progressed to the quarter-finals, Saywell automatically got another chance to fight for the bronze medal, which he eventually made his.

He beat Nicola Reboldi and Luca Braulin, both by Ippon, before having the better of Matteo Lopes. The decisive contest for third place was against Italian Silvio Cici, who had just lost the semi-final to Piras.

Cici attacked but Saywell managed to twist and clinched the match with an Ippon. After winning five bouts in his category, Saywell deservedly secured a place on the podium.

Camilleri began strongly, eliminating Michaela Ptterle with a strong strangle. She won her next contest with Ippon against Silvia Santi to book a place in the semi-final against the experienced Flavia Pagnessi.

Camilleri lost her contest in the last 30 seconds. She then played for the bronze medal against Federica Fonsa, three times on the podium in the last three Italian U-20 and U-23 National Championships.

The bout was balanced and required an extra three minutes of golden score. However, a few seconds from time, Fonsa countered for a score and Camilleri had to settle for fifth place overall.

Law beat Enrico Francesconi in his opening bout but was then outsmarted by Luca Rosi. As the latter did not make the quarter-finals, Law was unable to play in the bronze medal zone.

In Veneto, Falzon won his first two fights in his class, having the better of Stan Calmatui and Othm Mouhssin.

However, he was then beaten by Cavaldo Penzo who, in turn, lost his fight before the quarter-finals, thus denying Falzon a slot in the repechage for bronze.