Marica Perisic wins judo bronze at Baku worlds
The Red Star judoka won four of five bouts in the under 57 kg category, and coach Bojan Dosen also points to valuable points toward Olympic qualification.
Marica Perisic watched the first round of the Judo World Championships in Baku from the sidelines. Seeded in the under 57 kilogram category, she had a bye, and on Tuesday, October 6, she finished the tournament with a bronze medal.
How did Perisic reach bronze in Baku?
She first stepped onto the tatami in the second round, where she beat Spain’s Adrijana Rodriges Salvador. The rest of her run looked like this:
- round of 16: win over Ojuncimeg Ojungerel, who competes for the United Arab Emirates
- loss to France’s Sara Sisik
- repechage semifinal: win over Japan’s Momo Tamaoki
- bronze medal match: win over Germany’s Balhaus
That makes five bouts and four wins. Gold went to Japan’s Akari Omori, and silver to Eteri Lipartelijani of Georgia.
The win over Tamaoki carries weight, and her record this year shows why. The Japanese judoka took two third places, at the Grand Slam in Paris and the Grand Prix in Qingdao, China, and finished second at the year-end Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2025.
The bronze medal match had a backstory too. Balhaus beat Perisic last year in the European Championships semifinal in Podgorica, so in Baku Marica settled that score against the very same rival.
What did Perisic say after the medal?
She named her goal right away, and not just as a thank-you:
“Thank you all for the support, it is a realistic goal to fight for a medal at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles”
She also thanked her family, friends, Red Star, club presidents Stojan Vujko and Ivan Bosnjak, and Judo Federation of Serbia president Ivan Todorov, adding that the medal would not have happened without them. She said this too:
“I believed in this, and now it will surely be easier for me going forward”
What does the medal mean for the national team and Olympic qualification?
Coach Bojan Dosen spoke about the result, and about what it brings for qualification:
“An outstanding result that is top class in itself, and it will also serve as an extra tailwind for everyone on the national team. Along with the bronze medal Perisic won, there are also important points for the Olympic visa, which is extremely important. The bronze medal was forged in Judo Club Crvena Zvezda, and so above all we are grateful to the management of our Club led by Stojan Vujko, as well as to the president of our Judo Federation of Serbia, Ivan Todorov”
Those visa points are what make the Baku bronze useful for the coming months, and not just for the trophy cabinet. The national team returns to the tatami as early as Wednesday, October 7, when Mihajlo Simin and Vasilije Grujicic, first-team judokas at Red Star, compete in the under 81 kilogram category.
