T&T's Gabriella Wood, 23, fell to eventual gold medallist Raz Hershko of Israel in her Pool C match in the Women's 78-kilogram and under category at the Antalya Grand Slam hosted by the International Judo Federation (IJF) in Turkey, yesterday.
The local judoka and one of the top ten athletes in T&T for the year 2020 at the 58th annual First Citizens Sports Foundation Sports Awards ceremony last Sunday, was beaten by an experienced Hershko, who used the opportunity to collect precious points for the Tokyo Olympics qualification.
The Israeli, 22, who became European Cadet Champion Under-18 in 2015 and won a silver medal at the EYOF in Tbilisi, that same year, went on to win Pool C, defeating Yuliana Bolivar Gonzalez (Peru).
Hershko, a silver medal at European U-23 Championships in 2017 held in Podgorica and winner of the European Cup in Malaga in 2018, then beat Pool D winner Cameroon's Hortence Vanessa MBalla Atangana to reach the final and got the better of China's Shiyan XU (Pool B Winner) to emerge the winner of the category.
Wood, who represented T&T at the Junior Pan American Championships in Panama in 2015 and won a silver medal, successfully defended her provisional Olympic slot at the Tbilisi Grand Slam in The Republic of Georgia two weekends ago.
Anyone interested in donating to Wood’s journey to Tokyo, can do so at any branch of First Citizens Bank - Gabriella M Wood account number 2355350.