Judoka Andreja Leški has won gold in the women's under 63kg category for what is Slovenia's first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The 27-year-old Slovenian defeated Prisca Awiti Alcaraz of Mexico in the finals with an ippon.

This was the second match between Leški and the 28-year-old Mexican, after the latter won the first encounter last year in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

This time Leški emerged victorious, but the match did not start well for her. Awiti Alcaraz was aggressive right from the get-go, scoring a waza-ari after only 25 seconds.

Leški found herself in trouble again but managed to escape the opponent's grip, and one minute and 44 seconds into the match she managed a lightning-fast move to pin the Mexican to the ground for 10 seconds for the winning ippon.

A fairy tale come true

"Unbelievable! This is a fairy tale. I had the desire, I was focused and I believed in myself. My goal was to go full force in all five matches," she said after the win.

"Three ingredients are needed for such an achievement - immense desire, commitment and self-confidence, and I think I had all three things and there was no other option than for me to come to the top," Leški added for TV Slovenija.

Leški previously won two silver medals at the world championships in Budapest in 2021 and Doha in 2023, and a gold medal and two bronze medals at the European championships.

Slovenia successful in judo for sixth straight Olympics

The gold won by the Koper judoka continues a series started 20 years ago by Urška Žolnir in Athens as part of which Slovenia has won an Olympic medal in judo for six consecutive Summer Olympic Games.

"This is a new historic day for Slovenian judo in the under 63kg category. I'm very happy," Leški commented on this.

In the next round, Algerian Amina Belkadi justified the title of the African champion and Leški had to work extra hard to make it to the quarter-finals.

There, the Slovenian faced the second-seeded Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Canada, to whom she lost the previous match, and managed to defeat her in overtime to earn the semi-finals with Agbegnenou, the defending Olympic champion in the category.