Following his first-round defeat in the under-100 kg tournament on Thursday, Shady ElNahas’ brief run at the Paris Olympics quickly came to an end.
“I wasn’t feeling all that great, but I’m not sure why. Sometimes it’s just not your day, but usually, you can find a way to push through. I thought I had done so today, but it just didn’t happen,” said the 26-year-old Ontarian.
The Canadian judoka, who is ranked third in the world, faced off against Daniel Eich of Switzerland early on Thursday. From the outset, ElNahas struggled to gain control and find his stride.
“I haven’t done any judo for more than two weeks, because I had surgery on my thumb four days before leaving. Right now it hurts a bit, but I was able to compete. Normally, the more difficult the fight is, the harder I push, but in today’s case, he countered me,” added the Ontarian, who defeated Eich at the Tokyo Grand Slam in 2023.
After the four minutes of regulation time, the two judokas, who had received two shidos each, remained unable to overcome their opponent. However, in overtime, Eich, who is ranked 14th worldwide, successfully counterattacked with an ura-nage to score a waza-ari and put an end to the Canadian’s medal hopes.
Ana Laura Portuondo will be the final Canadian to compete in an individual judo event. She will lock horns with Izayana Marenco of Nicaragua in the over-78 kg category in Friday’s first round.
The Canadian judokas will then join forces on Saturday to conclude their Olympic experience in Paris with the mixed team event.
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