Huge drama in Judo as Sweden’s Tara Babulfath is controversially disqualified after a take down
The 2024 Paris Olympics are well underway, as several events have started taking place across the city. Among one of the sports to have commenced on the opening day of the Summer Games is Judo. And yes, the first day of this sport involved several controversial calls.
Swedish judoka Tara Babulfath was disqualified in the semifinals of her weight category after taking three warnings. However, the manner of the final warning stirred huge drama, as this was right after Tara managed a take down of her Japanese opponent.
Tara Babulfath defeated Italian judoka Assunta Scutto in the quarterfinals, who also happened to be the top seed at the 2024 Paris Olympics. A controversial and a questionable call from the referee meant that she could not progress for the gold medal bout.
Tara Babulfath bows out in the semifinals after surprising call from the referee
Tara Babulfath loosened her grip, and attacked her opponent Tsunoda Natsumi which brought about the takedown. However, the referee felt that there was a pause between the time she loosened her grip, and attacked the opponent which led to her third warning.
However, by the looks of things, Tara Babulfath was the more attacking judoka in the semifinals, and as such, the decision from the referee was surprising. The 18-year-old Swede is competing at her first ever Olympics, and won three bouts to reach the semifinals.
Tara Babulfath managed to claim the bronze medal, as she defeated Abiba Abuzhakynova in the bronze medal playoff. The Kazakh judoka was injured during the bout, as her knee was heavily tapped. Both judokas collected two warnings each, before Tara Baubulfath clinched the match winning move.
