Paris 2024: Laborde Reaches Round of 16
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by Bill Kellick
PARIS, France - Maria Laborde (Kenosha, Wis. / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) reached the round of 16 in the women's -48kg division on Saturday during the opening day of judo competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Fighting China's Guo Zongying in the day's first match in front of a capacity crowd at the Champ-de-Mars Arena, Laborde scored a waza-ari 1:07 into the bout and earned another waza-ari at the 3:11 mark to clinch the victory.
"I was expecting that...always in Paris we have a lot of fans," Laborde said about the atmosphere. "So I was expecting a lot of people there supporting us."
Her victory over Zongying earned Laborde a match against the top-seeded Assunta Scutto of Italy. Laborde and Scutto battled for over three minutes before Scutto was able to pin Laborde for an ippon 3:23 into the bout.
The U.S. Judo Team is back in action on Sunday with Angelica Delgado (Miami, Fla / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) competing in the women's -52kg division. Delgado will be followed by Jack Yonezuka (West Long Branch, N.J. / NYAC / Cranford JKC) on Monday in the men's -73kg competition and John Jayne (Chicago, Ill.) taking to the tatami on Wednesday in the men's -90kg division.
