Itongadol.-Israeli judoka Sagi Muki is one win away from claiming the country\’s first Olympic medal in eight years.
Muki will face world No. 2 Rustam Orujov of Azerbaijan in the semifinals later Monday. A win and he\’s guaranteed a gold or silver medal, a loss and he faces another bout for a bronze medal.
Israel didn\’t claim any medal at the London 2012 Olympics. The last Israeli to win a medal was windsurfer Shahar Zubari, who took a bronze at Beijing 2008. Israel has won seven Olympic medals in total, three by judokas Yael Arad (silver – Barcelona 1992), Oren Smadja (bronze – Barcelona 1992) and Arik Ze\’evi (bronze – Athens 2004) and three by windsurfers Gal Fridman (bronze – Atlanta 1996, gold – Athens 2004) and Zubari, with one coming in kayaking courtesy of Michael Kolganov (bronze – Sydney 2000).
Muki, who won the gold medal at the European Championships last year, entered Monday with many question marks hovering over his fitness. He struggled with a back injury in the weeks leading up to the Games, limiting him in training. At one stage he was even a doubt to participate in Rio, but he looked great in the early rounds on Monday After receiving a bye into the second round, Muki took a little time to find his rhythm against Rok Draksic of Slovenia. He ultimately advanced with an Ippon, judo\’s version of a knockout, 2:16 minutes into the bout. Muki then beat Igor Wandtke of Germany thanks to a late waza-ari, the second highest score, with 1:25 remaining. He booked his place in the semis with another Ippon in the quarterfinals, tossing American Nicholas Delpopolo on his back with 1:09 left on the clock.