Guusje Steenhuis (photo), Lieke Derks and Simeon Catharina were quickly eliminated on Wednesday at the World Judo Championships in Budapest. Steenhuis sustained an injury during her first match in the class up to 78 kilograms.
The 32-year-old Steenhuis injured her shoulder against the German Anna Monta Olek. She finished the match, but indicated several times that her shoulder was in pain. She lost with a waza-ari.
The 22-year-old Derks also did not get far in the class up to 78 kilograms. She lost in the second round to the Chinese Ma Zhenzhao by a waza-ari.
Catharina was eliminated in the second round in the class up to 100 kilograms. He had to acknowledge his superior in the Russian Matvey Kanikovskiy, who won the European title last year.
The 27-year-old Catharina previously won bronze at the European Championships this year, but against Kanikovskiy he was quickly behind due to a waza-ari. Subsequently, he failed to surprise the Russian sufficiently. Catharina had won his first round match against the Brit Rhys Thompson with an ippon.
Sanne van Dijke gave the Dutch team its first success at the World Championships on Tuesday. She won bronze in the class up to 70 kilograms. For Van Dijke it was the third individual bronze World Championship medal, after she also finished third at the World Championships in 2021 and 2022.