Marko Jorgic Wins Gold in Taranto, Serbia Reaches 11 Medals

The last bout of the Friday session on the Taranto mats ended the way Serbia likes to close out a day, with a gold medal around someone’s neck. Marko Jorgic knelt at the edge of the tatami as the flag went up, leaving behind a fight in which he never gave ground. In the under 66 kilogram category, the Serbian judoka beat Cyprus’s Petros Christodoulides 1-0 in the final of the Mediterranean Games.

One point, one action that decided the match, and the gold went to Serbia. The Taranto Games run from August 21 to September 3, and with that result Jorgic added another medal to his team’s already rich haul from this edition of the competition.

On the same day, on the same mats, Andrea Stojadinov also reached the podium, in the under 52 kilogram category. She won her bronze medal bout against France’s Pauline Chouque by scoring a yuko, a technique that carries fewer points than an ippon in judo but is often enough to settle an even contest when neither side manages a cleaner attack. For the Serbian judo team, that meant gold and bronze in the same session, separated by only a few bouts.

Bronze Also Comes From the Table Tennis Hall

Serbia’s day in Taranto did not end on the judo mats. Table tennis players Izabela Lupulesku and Sabina Surjan won bronze in the team event, beating Turkey 3-0 in wins in the bronze medal match. Surjan claimed the first point, beating Ece Harac 3-2, Lupulesku followed with a more convincing win over Sibel Altinkaya, 3-0, and the doubles pair sealed the tie with the same 3-0 scoreline. Three different matches, three wins, and a bronze that is often harder to earn in the team event than in singles.

Serbia’s Tally After Friday: Eleven Medals

With two golds, three silvers and six bronzes, Serbia reached eleven medals in Taranto after Friday. At the midpoint of the Games, which run through September 3, that tally looks like a solid base for the rest of the competition, especially since the team’s athletes reached the podium in two different sports on the same afternoon, not only in the one where that is traditionally expected.

Serbia’s earlier medals in Taranto carry names that have already defined this competition. Wrestler Aleksandar Komarov won gold in the under 97 kilogram category, boxer Kristina Kuluhova took silver, and the shooting team added silver through Andjelija Stevanovic and bronze through Aleksandra Stojadinovic. Taekwondo athlete Zarko Krajisnik rounded out the list with a bronze. In wrestler Viktor Nemes’s case, in the under 87 kilogram category, reports differ: Tanjug and B92 say he won bronze, while Kurir reports it as silver, so that part of the tally remains open until an official Mediterranean Games list appears.

The Taranto Games still have a week to run, and going by Friday, the Serbian team has entered a phase where medals are arriving from more than one sport on the same afternoon, not only from the ones where that is the habit. For the judo team, which delivered both gold and bronze in a single day, the next test comes in the categories still to be contested, where the final medal count is won or lost. For table tennis, the team bronze confirms that Lupulesku and Surjan can carry weight beyond the individual event too, a rare thing for that sport in Serbia and one worth noting.