Local Judoka makes a habit of winning medals
Pretoria's leading Judoka recently added the silver medal at the African Championships to his already remarkable collection of medals.
Zack Piontek, Commonwealth Games judo gold medallist, greatly improved his chances to represent South Africa at the Olympic Games in Rio next year by winning a silver medal at the African Championships in Libreville, Gabon recently.
According to Piontek winning silver was very special because it was the first time he was able to medal at an African Championships, but he was even more excited about the ranking points he had earned.
“Winning the silver medal is worth 240 valuable points which means I have improved by 23 positions on the latest rankings of the International Judo Federation. Before the tournament I was ranked 61st in the under-90kg division and now I am ranked 39th.”
Piontek cannot help wondering about what might have been. “I missed winning the gold medal by two seconds.”
He explained that when the time for the final had basically run out neither he nor his opponent, Abderrahmane Benamadi from Algeria, has been able to score any points.
“Because I was penalized only twice (shido) during our fight and he three times I would have won, but two seconds before the end of the fight the ref gave me a third shido, making us all square. This meant that the fight had to be decided by a golden score decision, a sudden death. By throwing me with a wazari, Benamadi won fair and square” Piontek explained.
“If I had won I would have gained 400 points, which would have placed me about 25th on the rankings. To qualify for next year’s Olympics I need to be in the top 22 in my division.”
Benamadi is now ranked 23rd.
“It certainly won’t help beating myself up about what has happened. I had a good tournament, winning my first three fights in emphatic style.”
An ippon is awarded for a technique which is judged as decisive. This is usually a move which connects cleanly, with good form and with little opportunity for the opponent to defend against it.
Piontek seems to be making a habit of winning medals. Since winning the gold medal at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he won bronze medals at the African Open tournaments in Mauritius and Tunisia and now a silver medal at the African Championships.
He is not certain when his next tournament will be.
“I am writing exams in May and June which means I will take things slightly easier. My main goal is to be at my best for the World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. I don’t say I am going to win a medal. At this stage it is a case of one step at a time. I first need to qualify and, having done that, I will be happy to win one or two fights, because if I can do that it will prove to me that I am on the right track” he concluded.
