Nace Herkovič, who claimed his first medal at a senior World Cup last October with victory in Sarajevo, won bronze this time in Tallinn.

The 23-year-old from Carinthia began the competition in Estonia as the third seed in the under 81 kg category, starting in the second round. He defeated his Israeli opponent with a successful throw followed by a hold-down. In the round of 16, he then convincingly defeated the Belgian representative, before being stopped in the quarter-finals by the experienced Frenchman Luca Otmane.

Herkovič continued the competition in the repechage, where he faced another French judoka, Sacha Gigli. After nearly half of the contest, the Slovenian judoka decided the bout with a cleverly executed body technique, earning himself a waza-ari.

Nace used a similar technique in the bronze medal contest, when, shortly after the halfway point of the bout, he threw Kyrgyzstan’s Ratbek Zhumanazarov onto his back and, with four victories, secured the bronze medal.

Jevgenija Gajić also competed in Tallinn on the first day of the event, but this time had to concede defeat in the opening round to an opponent from Israel.

Photo: EJU - Erika Zucchiatti