Portugal’s Jorge Fonseca left no doubt who the best judoka in the -100kg divison is at the first IJF Grand Prix event of 2022.
Fonseca claimed gold at the tournament in front of a home crowd, defeating Daniel Eich from Switzerland in the final. The Portuguese powerhouse won Pool “A” after two victories over a Mongolian and Georgian judokas.
Then Fonseca dismantle the American L.A. Smith III before he smashed Eich via ippon. Probably not on top of his form as the main objectives of the season are still far away, the Portuguese ball of muscle nevertheless executed some of the most spectacular techniques of the weekend. Fonseca is a showman and his judo is always enjoyable. For sure the public had the same feeling.
He was not even inside the competition area when the crowd began chanting ‘Jorge, Jorge’ and the noise level went even higher when Fonseca stepped on to the tatami. Within thirty seconds the world champion had already attacked three times and a few seconds later the real attack came in the form of an o-soto-gari, followed with an immediate change of direction for seoi-nage and a tremendous throw.
