Two more Israeli judokas bow out of Olympics

Golan Pollack’s Olympic campaign is over after he was defeated by an Ippon in his round of 32 clash on Sunday afternoon.

Having gone into the Games on the back of morale-boosting performances, his tournament in the U66kg campaign was ended by Zambia’s Mathews Punza.

He said: “This is very tough to take, I still can’t quite comprehend what happened. I felt like I started off well, but I made a mistake for one second, I froze and there was no way back from there. I’m really angry at myself, but I’m a sportsman and I need to recover from this.”

Gili Cohen followed him out of the Games shortly after in the U52kg tournament. Her first appearance at an Olympic Games, she received a bye into the last 16 where she faced Mauritian Christianne Legentil. She was meant to take on Saudi Arabian Joud Fahmy – for the right to meet the Israeli – but Fahmy failed to turn up for her match, with Legentil awarded an Ippon.

Cohen tried to take the initiative in the their fight, but as she came in for a technique, she was counter-attacked as Legentil won the contest by a Yuko.

She said: “I don’t know if I’m more disappointed or angry, I was confident and felt good. I was in the lead but in one moment I lost it.”

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