In addition to Sagi Muki, Israel has a number of Judokas that will be competing in the Tokyo Games who will have a legitimate chance to capture a medal and perhaps even take the top spot on the podium.
One Israeli Judoka who hasn’t been slowed down by COBID-19 is Peter Paltchik who is considered to have an excellent chance of winning a medal and will compete in the -100KG category. Paltchik who was born in the Ukraine, immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 9 months old and settled in Rishon Le’Zion. The 29-year old has been taking one medal after the next over the past couple of years, capturing three gold medals in 2020 while winning a silver and bronze just ahead of the Olympics.
Shira Rishony and Gili Cohen will also be competing and have won medals at various tournaments this past year. Both are 30-years old and will each be making their second Olympic appearances in the -48KG and -52KG categories respectively.
Gili Sharir, Inbal Lanir and Raz Hershko will all be making their Olympic debuts having had much success at the youth levels of the sport. Although for the trio this will be a learning experience, Hershko will come into the Games after having captured a gold medal this year at the Antalya Grand Slam.
The Tokyo Olympics will also host the first Judo team event in which Israel's men’s and women’s teams will participate.