Judoka Joanne van Lieshout misses out on European Championship gold three months before the Games | Sports Other

Van Lieshout took the lead in the battle for the European title with a waza-ari. The Dutch judo revelation seemed to be on her way to her first European title, but was surprised by an ippon from Zachová, the global number 22.

Van Lieshout qualified for the final by beating the Bulgarian Joana Manova (waza-ari), Yana Makretskaya from Russia (ippon) and the Austrian Lubjana Piovesana (ippon). In the semi-finals, the number nine in the world was too strong in the golden score with a waza-ari for the Croatian Katarina Kristo, the number twenty in the world.

Eleven months ago, Van Lieshout won a bronze medal at her World Cup debut in Doha. With the European Championship silver medal and World Cup bronze in her pocket, she is well prepared for the Olympic Games in Paris, which start on July 26.

Later in the day, Frank de Wit will face reigning world champion Tato Grigalashvili in the final. The North Hollander is making a bid for his first European title in the 81 kilogram class. In the semi-finals he was too strong for the Kazakh Vedat Albayrak, who won gold at the last two European Championships.