The winning streak of Inbar LANIR (ISR/78) continues. After World Championships in Doha and Grand Slam in Ulaanbatar, the 23-year-old now also won the Hungary World Judo Masters in Budapest. “Inbar is a preferential student, incredibly focused and ambitious. In this form, she is very hard to beat,” laughed Israel’s Judo Federation President Moshe PONTE. “If you are very precise, it took Inbar only 1:49 minutes to fight four bouts today. 1:49 minutes to win Masters gold. Inbar is an ippon machine. She doesn’t flinch for long, wants to throw and win. She is sensational,” women’s head coach Shani HERSHKO beamed with his president and his athlete.
“You could say from the result and the way the fights went, it was a perfect day. I am not the type to wait and strategize for a long time. I want to throw my opponents as quickly as possible. That’s risky, but when it works out it’s really fun,” said the world number two. “I didn’t feel good at all today. I’m pretty exhausted from all the training I’ve done in the last few months. But probably the others feel the same.”
Reward for the Masters title – in addition to 1,800 points for the world ranking list and 6,000 euros in prize money: “I now get two more days off, so a total of four days. We had agreed on that beforehand. I am looking forward to staying at home, my family has hardly seen me in the last few months.”
After the short holiday, the Olympic preparation for Paris will continue. “I still have to get better. An Olympic medal is my big drive,” says Inbar. Thoughts of Paris come up automatically at home. “We have a big photo of the Eiffel Tower hanging in our living room. Olympia is already omnipresent for me.”
Judoka
Author: EJU Media