Khushbu Rajakbhai Darjada on Monday became only the second Indian judoka to reach the Youth Olympic Games final, assuring herself of at least a silver medal in the women’s 63kg category here.
Khushbu can become the first Indian judoka to win a gold medal in the Youth Olympics if she beats Germany’s Cadet world champion Jolina Reinhold in the final later in the day. Thangjam Tababi Devi is India’s lone judo medallist at the Youth Olympic Games. If Khushbu wins a gold, she will also become the fourth Indian overall to achieve the feat after shooters Manu Bhaker (women’s 10m air pistol) and Saurabh Chaudhary (men’s 10m air pistol), and weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga (men’s 62kg). Yuko is a minor scoring point in judo awarded for an effective technique. In the quarterfinals, Khushbu of Gujarat beat Abir Bouazzaoui of Morocco via ippon. An ippon is the highest possible score in judo, and it immediately ends the match. An ippon can be scored through a throw, a pin, a choke or a joint lock. Khushbu then stormed into the final with another win via ippon against Dounia Berrahoual of Algeria. The Algerian was penalised with ‘Hansoku-make’, the most serious penalty in judo, meaning ‘defeat by infringement’, which results in immediate disqualification and an automatic win (ippon) for the opponent.
She won a silver medal in the women’s 44kg category in the 2018 edition in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The trio had won their gold medals in the 2018 edition. The 15-year-old Khushbu began her campaign with a 1-0 win by yuko in her round-of-16 bout against Mamaissata Camara of Guinea.
The 16-year-old from Bengaluru clocked 56.80 seconds to top her heat and finish third-fastest overall, with Croatia’s Ana Bobanovic (56.22 seconds) and New Zealand’s Alyssa Lawson (56.53 seconds) ahead of her. Two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj in 2018 and Tirthank Pegu in the ongoing edition are the other two Indian swimmers to reach the Youth Olympics final. Dhinidhi was the youngest member of the Indian contingent at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Meanwhile, Dhinidhi Desinghu became the first Indian female swimmer to qualify for the Youth Olympics final after advancing to the 100m freestyle medal race.
