Romanian athlete Alex Bologa won the bronze medal in the 73 kg category at the IBSA (International Blind Sports Federation) Judo World Championships reserved for visually impaired athletes, the Romanian Judo Federation (FRJ) announced, told Agerpres.
"On November 8-10, in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Judo World Championships reserved for visually impaired athletes will take place. Romania managed to place on the podium through Alexandru Bologa, who won the bronze medal in the -73 kg category (J1- level of visual impairment)," FRJ informs.
The athlete from central-western Cluj, trained by coach Tamas Gergely, benefited from a free first round, in order to defeat the Georgian Misiko Siobrisvili by ippon in the second round. As in the second round, Alex Bologa succeeded in a shime waza (strangulation) technique and defeated Brazilian Arruda Perreira in the quarters, also by ippon.
Bologa was defeated in the semi-finals by Ergali Samei (Kazakhstan) and thus ended up fighting for the bronze medal with the Turkish Gokce Yavuz, whom he beat by ippon, after accumulating two wazari.
The Romanian athlete's track record includes two bronze medals at the Paralympic Games (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020) and three gold medals at the European Championships (2017, 2019 and 2022).