In a recent youth judo international event, a referee noticed something on the mat he couldn’t really miss — a cell phone that had suddenly appeared.
He stopped the action and asked both athletes how this phone made its way to the midst of a grappling tangle. One finally admitted the phone was hers. See the video.
But it’s not just kids. In the Baku Grand Slam earlier this year, Portuguese athlete Anri Egutidze was disqualified after a phone fell from his gi in mid-grapple.
Despite that loss, Egutidze is ranked 17th in his weight class. And if more judokas bring their phones onto the mat, maybe they can check their rankings while fending off an armbar.
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