07/27/2021 2:19 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 07/27/2021 2:22 AM
Emmanuel Lucenti's dream lasted very quickly at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He barely
lasted twenty-five seconds before falling by ippon
to Hungarian
Ivaylo Ivanov
in one of the second round duels of the judo category up to 81 kilograms. Hurt and surprised by the form of the defeat, the Tucuman apologized "to the Argentine judo, to my province and to my family." And he took advantage of the television cameras to claim the lack of support he suffered in his preparation for the Olympic event.
"I don't understand anything, but hey. I didn't even see him, I didn't think he was going to attack me like that, so fast. I had imagined another kind of fight. I didn't have time to do anything, I'm confused. Honor and pride hurts a lot. He had never lost so fast, "said the Argentine, with a mixture of anger and sadness, minutes after his elimination.
"I want to apologize to everyone, to Argentine judo, to my province, to my family. In sports it's time to lose, but I don't like it. I'm super hot."
The 34-year-old Lucenti, who was an
Olympian in Beijing 2008, London 2012 (seventh) and Rio de Janeiro 2016 (ninth)
, did not want to miss the opportunity to once again make public the difficulties he experienced on his way to the Tokyo Games .
"I do not want to justify anything, but to come to compete in an Olympic Game I need to be on the tour, I cannot train and prepare in Tucumán," said who before his debut had told in an interview with the newspaper La Nación that,
after suffering a back injury after his participation in Rio, he lost all his supports
.
"Neither the ENARD, nor the Olympic Committee nor the Sports Secretariat gave me anything when I was injured. Only the province of Tucumán continued faithfully," he told that media.
# JudoTokyo2020
🇦🇷 Emmanuel Lucenti fell by Ippon to the Bulgarian Ivanov in Round 32.
The experienced great Argentine #Judoka says goodbye to the #JuegosOlimpicos pic.twitter.com/EmT7TH6g16
- Mundial de Fondo (@mundialdefondo) July 27, 2021
On Monday, after his fall in the debut in Tokyo, he claimed: "
Take advantage of me a little more. What would have happened to this fight if I had had a little support for training.
Unfortunately I could not go to Croatia a month ago because the woman died of my dad and it was my decision, but
this could not be fixed with a single training camp
. I think I am a qualified figure of Argentine sports, regardless of what happened today. I don't want to throw my laurels, but I showed it. It would be good that they take advantage of me a little more, "he commented, visibly hurt.
"There is support, it was visible because they sent athletes to a thousand different places. So it
would be good if they take advantage of me a little more, that they respect me a little more as a person and as an athlete.
I have given a lot for Argentine judo. Today I am fine. Thank God, but I have struggled with broken ribs and an injured back. That is why
this treatment hurts
, "he said.
And he closed: "I do not want the boys who come after me to suffer the same as me, that they have to sell their cars or sleep in an airport, as I did with my wife and my son.
I want to be an example so that they change their things.
I now have to think which side can be more useful for my family and for sport. I think what it is now if I go back, I will come back stronger. "