Finland’s medal hope Martti Puumalainen lost his opening match in the heavy division of judo.
SpongeBob Forsberg,
Joel Holm
12:44•Updated 12:58
Judoka Martti Puumalainen the games ended in a huge disappointment right in the Finn’s opening match in the heavyweight division. of Azerbaijan Ushangi Kokauri knocked Finland’s medal win to the mat with an Ippon-worthy performance after less than two minutes, and Puumalainen’s tournament ended there.
Puumalainen won European Championship gold and the prestigious Masters competition last year, but suffered from asthma in the spring and lost his opening match at the World Championships. However, more was expected from the Finn in Paris.
Puumalainen was hugely disappointed after the match. He is tenth on the judo world list, Koukari is 17th.
– That was the worst day of my life. Really soft. Somehow this year has been really difficult, but I felt that the preparation went well in such a way that it could be turned around in this race. If I could decide, I would go to sleep and wake up next year. You can’t do that, you have to analyze this and move on.
Puumalainen said that the asthma diagnosed in the spring did not affect the course of the match.
– It was being treated. Nothing about it. I was too bad, there’s never anything else if you lose.
Kokauri was at the top of his game in the match, especially in the grappling. Puumalainen did not explain the defeat to a familiar opponent.
– It should have been a bit of a stretched out match, so that he could have gelled, and then his own strengths would have come to the fore. It was a bad show, that f*ttu… It’s been a miserable year. All you can do is practice more.
– A year ago at this time, you could throw anyone in the world. The best fitness spike of my life came at a slightly wrong time.
Puumalainen said that his physical condition was good, but he thought that he has not been able to renew himself after the amazing last year.
– The team has learned the best tricks, and I haven’t been able to come up with new ones yet. It’s probably the first thing that comes to mind, what stuck.
However, Puumalainen intends to continue his career despite the heavy loss and believes in the future of the sport in Finland. Puumalainen himself took the EC gold last year and Luukas Saha this year WC bronze.
– Neither sport nor life ends here. This has been a great Olympics for Finnish judo, we returned to the EC and WC medal base. Unfortunately, not yet ready to win the first Olympic medal. After four years in Los Angeles, our team is even more ready, even though we were at a good level even now.
Head coach of the Finnish national judo team Rok Draksic he too believes that Finnish judo will be more and more successful in the future.
– The preparation went well. Luke did a good job. This gives us the belief that we can make a big profit. That’s why we were here. After good preparation, it is difficult to end the contract like this.
Added at 12:57 Rok Draksic’s comment.