Having failed to win a medal in the men’s judo half lightweight (66kg) weight class since 2000, Italy saw that drought come to an end Sunday afternoon. Fabio Basile ended that streak, as he won gold in the half lightweight weight class.
Basile defeated South Korea’s An Baul in the gold medal match, and his gold medal is the 200th won by an Italian in Olympic history. Basile won the match with a seoi otoshi just 1:24 into the first round to win the gold medal.
Winning the bronze medals in the 66kg class were Uzbekistan’s Rishod Sobirov and Japan’s Masashi Ebinuma, with the latter winning a bronze medal for the second consecutive Summer Olympics.
