Szofi Özbas won the gold medal in the 70-kilogram division on Saturday at the European Judo Championships in Tbilisi, successfully defending her title.
The Hungarian delegation’s gold winner advanced to the final once again with four confident victories, just as she did last year in Podgorica.
Awaiting her in the final was two-time junior world champion Melkia Auchecorne of France, a five-time World Tour medalist, whom she had lost to in their only previous meeting last year at the Qingdao Grand Prix.
The second bout lasted only 51 seconds, at which point, during a ground fight, the 24-year-old BHSE star attempted a chokehold, which her opponent—three years her junior—tapped out of, signaling that she was giving up the fight due to the risk of injury.
Fact
Szofi Özbas is a Hungarian judoka, World Championship bronze medalist, and European champion. In July 2017, she won the gold medal in the 52-kilogram division at the European Youth Championships in Lithuania. In the final, she defeated Gefen Primo of Israel. At the 2017 Summer European Youth Olympic Festival held in Győr, she won a bronze medal in the 52-kilogram weight class, and at the U23 European Championships in November, she finished in fifth place.
Via MTI; Featured image: MTI/Czeglédi Zsolt
