Bárbara Timo and João Fernando were eliminated on Tuesday in their first match of the Olympic competition in which they participated.
Timo, who competed in the -63kg category, lost to South Korean Jisu Kim by ippon. João Fernando, competing in -81kg, was eliminated in the golden score.
In a match that opened the day’s competition at the Mars-de-Champ Arena, Timo was unable to overcome an opponent she had defeated earlier this year at the Almada Grand Prix, despite only having a one-place difference in the world ranking (15th and 16th).
The Portuguese judoka, who lost by immobilization (osaekomi) just seconds before the end, departs from her second Olympic Games with a worse performance than in Tokyo 2020, where she competed in -70kg and participated in two matches.
As for João Fernando, he lost to Canadian François Gauthier Drapeau, the fifth in the world ranking and a medal contender for Paris 2024, due to three penalties.
The 24-year-old Portuguese judoka fought well and managed to take the match to golden score, but not without receiving another penalty just four seconds before the end of the match.
The third penalty was applied to João Fernando a little over a minute into the golden score, eliminating the Portuguese competitor.