Kiyomi Watanabe was on the back foot the entire time and absorbed a loss off Brazil’s Alexia Castilhos in the second round of the women’s minus-63 kg of the 2021 World Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday.
As one of the highest ranked players, the 24-year-old Filipino drew an opening round bye, while her opponent had to deal with Great Britain’s Amy Livesey.
Castillos duplicated the technique that handed her first point in the first-round win, this time against Watanabe, to earn her a waza-ari. If not for the Filpino’s head and the Brazilian’s left arm, the uchi mata throw could have been a full point.
The four-time Southeast Asian Games champion tried to go for the ground throughout the match, but Castilho’s defense was tight and the latter eventually held on for the third round progression.
Twin brothers Shugen and Keisei Nakano were not fortunate either, as they also went home as early as the end of their respective first matches.
Shugen Nakano lost his men’s minus-66 first round match against Nathan Katz of Australia after taking a disqualification on accumulated shido (penalties) on Monday.
The following day, Keisei Nakano also suffered the exact same fate when he went up against 21-year-old Makhmaedbek Makhbekov of the RJF.
The Worlds serve as the final Olympic qualification tournament wherein judokas earn points towards the Olympic rankings. Watanabe is virtually assured of passage into her first appearance in the quadrennial Games on continental quota merit.
