Portuguese Miguel Gago (-66 kg) lost today in the second match in the World Judo, taking place in Baku, where the Algarve was removed by Serbian Marco Jorgic, with a double 'waza-ari'.
© Lusa
05/10/2026
by
Lusa
Gago, from Academica, had proposed to do better than at his debut in Mundials, Budapest2025, when he lost in the first fight, but today assumed the frustration of leaving again at an early stage of the picture.
Even in the face of a scenario where he could, if he moved on, face the Japanese two-time Olympic champion and world champion Hifumi Abe, the judoka of the ‘students’ regretted, above all, the way he could not get there.
In his second match, with Jorgic, the gold medal in the Mediterranean Games and the European juniors' runner-up, Miguel Gago had some difficulty in the grips, facing a higher opponent with a larger arm length.
Still, the Portuguese tried to attack and it was in this context, in an unsuccessful sacrifice technique, that saw Marko Jorgic get a ‘count’, with the last movement belonging to the Serbian, who made ‘waza-ari’, the second highest score.
With the stopwatch running and just over a minute from the four regulations, Miguel Gago had to risk it and Jorgic knew how to take advantage of the context, to remark 'waza-ari', and consequent ippon to Portuguese, 41 seconds from the end.
In the first presence at the Baku National Gymnastics Arena, Gago had previously succeeded in winning the British Michael Fryer in a fight that dragged himself to the ‘golden score’ [period after the four regulatory minutes].
The victory of the Judoka of the Academic was completed at 01.19 of the extra time (5.19 in total), with Fryer seeing a third punishment, dictating the ‘hansoku make’ (disclassification).
In the Baku2026 Worlds, whose individual competition runs until Saturday, they will compete with the Portuguese Otari Kvantidze (-73 kg), Joana Chrysostom (-63 kg), Taís Pina (-70 kg), Patrícia Sampaio (-78 kg), Jorge Fonseca (-100 kg) and Rochele Nunes (+78 kg).