Laura Fazliu secures Kosovo's fifth Olympic medal

Kosovar judoka Laura Fazliu won the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Tuesday, in her Olympic debut.

She defeated Croatia's Katarina Kristo in the category up to 63 kilograms to win the first Olympic medal of her career.

The direct battle for bronze between Fazli and Kristo was very even in regular time and extra time, known as the "golden score", was needed to determine the winner of the bronze medal.

Fazliu, 23 years old, won thanks to punishing the 22-year-old with three shidos, after she made a mistake in an attempt to throw the Kosovar on the tatami.

On her way to her first Olympic medal, Fazliu made it through the first round without a fight, before defeating China's Jing Pang in her first Olympic match, advancing to the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by France's Clarisse Agbegnenou.

That defeat meant that Fazliu lost the opportunity to fight for the title of Olympic champion or for the silver medal, but remained in the race for bronze.

In her two fights to grab the bronze medal, she defeated Canada's Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard and Croatia's Kristo.

This is the fifth Olympic medal overall in the history of Kosovar sports, and the second from Paris 2024, after the silver medal won by Distria Krasniqi at the weekend, reports Rel .

Judo is the only sport that has brought Kosovo Olympic medals so far.

Kosovo traveled to Paris with nine athletes in sports such as judo, swimming, athletics and boxing.

Six of them have finished the competitions in their respective sports already, with Adell Shabovi?, Nora Gjakova, Akil Gjakova and Donjeta Sadiku failing to win medals.