Olympic bronze medallist Daria Bilodid of Ukraine has bowed out in the second round of the women’s -57kg category at the 2022 European Judo Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
It was her first competitive action since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021. The two-time world champion was unseeded, and left in tears after losing to France's eighth seed Priscilla Gneto in their pool B contest on Friday (28 April). The French judoka is an Olympic bronze medallist from London 2012.
The 21-year-old Bilodid, who prepared for the event with training in Valencia due to the war in her country, earlier defeated the Netherlands' Pleuni Cornelisse by Ippon in the opening round of the continental championships.
The two-time world champion has moved up two weight categories from her usual -48kg where she had dominated since making history as the youngest ever judo world champion at the age of 17.
Bilodid won Ukraine’s first Olympic medal in women’s judo in the -48kg category at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021.
She is one of 300 judokas from 40 countries competing in Sofia.
The other pre-event favourite in the -57kg category, double Olympian Telma Monteiro of Portugal, also fell in the round of 16 to Germany's Pauline Starke.