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Updated July 28th, 2021 at 17:38 IST

Tokyo Olympics: Judo Athlete defends coach after viewers stunned by slapping preparation

As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has kept many glued to their television, German judo star Martyna Trajdos has gone viral for a rather strange reason.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
Olympics
IMAGE: TWITTER | Image:self
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As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has kept many glued to their television screens, German judo star Martyna Trajdos has gone viral for a rather strange reason. A video clip, which has been shared by several internet users across the globe, shows Trajdos’ coach shaking and slapping her face as part of her pre-match preparations. The German judoka was all set to step into the mat to take on Hungarian Szofi Ozbas in the woman's 63 kg category when she received a pre-bout “motivation” from her coach Claudiu Pusa. 

Trajdos was filmed marching out to her Judofight with Pusa on Tuesday. Pusa was then seen dropping his bag before giving her the motivation “talk”. In the video, one can see Pusa grabbing Trajdos by the shoulders and shaking her before slapping her twice across the face as she was marching for her match. 

Netizens call it 'horrible, disturbing'

Following the incident, Olympic fans were left confused and concerned after seeing the coach violently shaking the athlete and slapping her face on the left and the right cheek. While taking to Twitter, netizens questioned the coach's 'hands on' approach, and some even shared memes. "Abusive coach. Also it’s counter productive: even in martial arts athletes need cool heads and focus, not judgement clouded by aggression response," wrote one user.

"Anyone who has done judo or combat sports understands. Best of luck in competition!" wrote another. One user even joked and said, “My first cup of coffee greeting me in the morning”. Another said, “In few families, women do this ritual on their husbands to wake him up”. 

Trajdos defends coach

Meanwhile, Trajdos has defended her coach and said that the slaps were not strong enough. With her opponent Szofi Özbas winning the match, Trajdos took to Instagram sharing the clip and contending that "this was not hard enough". She expressed disappointment that the interaction was what people were focusing on over her Judo fight.

“I wish I could have made a different headline today. As I already said, that’s the ritual which I chose pre-competition! My coach is just doing what I want him to do to fire me up,” Trajdos said. 

(Image: Twitter)
 

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Published July 28th, 2021 at 17:38 IST

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