Judoka Katryna Esposito produced one of the most remarkable stories for Team Malta at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as the 21-year-old bounced back from losing her opening bout in the -48kg to go on and secure a bronze medal in Birmingham. Valhmor Camilleri spoke to the young judoka about her achievement…
Prior to the Games, few had tipped Katryna Esposito to be among the medal contenders for Team Malta but the young judoka showed great discipline and resilience to return home with a bronze medal around her neck, a remarkable achievement for someone who has only started practicing the sport full time less than five years ago.
“To be honest, I am still getting over the excitement of winning a bronze medal,” Esposito told the Times of Malta.
“I am naturally very happy with my achievement. It’s true that the level of competition at the Commonwealth Games was quite high but my mindset coming here was to make sure I would do my best of my ability to try and win a medal.
I came here determined to give my 110 per cent and no doubt this result is a huge boost for my career.”
Esposito said that the start of the competition was very disappointing for her as she admitted to committing a silly mistake against English judoka Amy Platten that cost her the win.
“After the first fight I was very angry with myself as I lost the bout after I made a stupid mistake and messed it all up,” Esposito said.
“I was determined to not let it happen again as I knew that I had thrown away a fight I could have potentially won. But I managed to transform that negativity into something positive as I produced a strong performance in the second bout where I eased past Welsh judoka Ashleigh-Anne Barnikel to book a place in the bronze medal play-off with an Ippon.
“But there was still more work to be done when I stepped up for the bronze medal fight. I was up against a very experienced judoka in Priscilla Morand, of the Mauritius. She is ranked 40th in the world and I knew that apart from skill and technique I had to adopt the right tactics.
“Throughout the fight I managed to keep my discipline and followed my game plan to perfection. I was blessed to have a lot of support from the crowd and the MOC contingent who were very loud and that gave me an added boost.”