Written by Nicolas Messner, Leandra Freitas on 07. Mar 2021 Photographs by Gabriela Sabau
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Yesterday Gulnoza MATNIYAZOVA made history by being the first woman to win a first grand slam medal on home soil for Uzbekistan. We met the judoka and asked about her feelings after claiming her beautiful bronze medal. I’ve been doing judo since I was 5 years old. I was born in the Khorezm region, in a small village called Pichokchi.
When I was 5 I started to do judo at home with my brothers and sisters. My father introduced me to it; he is a very sporty person. He s always interested in what happens in sport, so he started to teach me judo, with my siblings. I also wanted to do it because it was such a dynamic sport. The curious thing is that my father didn t play judo before, he was just interested in the sport, like he is with all sports and he knew some basic movements and taught us. His actual sport was handball.
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