Israel captured a third medal at the Paris Olympics as judoka Raz Hershko took home the silver after falling to Beatriz Souza from Brazil 1-0 n the final via Waza-ari. Hershko, who was competing in the women’s +78kg category was dominant in the lead-up to the gold medal bout but ultimately Souza’s size and strength was just to much for the Sabra. With the silver, Israel has now won all three of their medals in judo after Inbar Lanir also captured a silver on Thursday while Peter Paltchik won a bronze medal for the blue-and-white delegation.

Hershko’s silver medal journey began by downing Marit Kamps form Holland via Ippon in the Round of 16 and then easily took care of Milica Zabic from Serbia with a Waza-ari in the quarterfinals to move into the semifinals. Up next was a Turkish foe Kayra Ozdemir who Hershko disposed of in 15 seconds via Ippon but the Brazilian was just too much for Hershko to handle as she captured the silver.

“It feels great,” Hershko said after the bout. “The target was gold but I’m so happy excited. I have no words. I’ve gone through a lot over the years. I was just trying to do my best on the biggest stage. It’s like an emotional explosion, not much time to get ready between the semis and the final. I wasn’t surprised I won the semifinal but I was surprised it happened so fast and I was so happy. I really wanted the gold, I felt like it was my day. I won the silver and I’m very happy.”

“The pressure was still high and I always have expectations to put my heart out on the mat and try to make the entire country happy. I want to thank everyone. Teamwork makes the dream come true.”

President Herzog also spoke to Hershko, “Raz, you are amazing what a great result. You made massive moves and made the entire country happy and excited. You are an example of passion and strength.”

On Saturday, israel will look to take a medal in the mixed team event, one that they won bronze in back at the Tokyo Olympics.

Both the Men’s and Women’s Surfing races were postponed until Saturday as Sharon Kantor will be battling it out against Marta Maggetti of Italy her semifinal race while Tom Reuveny will face Josh Armit from New Zealand in his semifinal matchup. Should the races be postponed again on Saturday both Israelis will be awarded Silver medals.

Also in the water by Marseille, in Mixed Dinghy after opening two races, the duo of Nitai Hasson and Noa Larry are in 5th place while in Men’s Dinghy after four races Omer Vered Vilenchik is in 21st position. In Women’s Dinghy Shai Kakon is in 22nd place after 3 races as all there of these competitions will run into the middle of next week.

In the pool, Gal Cohen Groumi advanced to the semifinals of the Men’s 100m Butterfly in 10th place (51.30) while Tomer Frankel finished in 21st (51.94) and was eliminated. The semifinals take place Friday night at 22:05.

Anastasia Gorbenko advanced to the semifinal of the Women’s 200m Individual Medley after finishing 11th overall (2:11.53) but Lea Polonsky was eliminated and finished in 28th (2:17.53). The semifinals are slated for 22:30 Friday night.

In the Mixed 4 x 100m Medley, the Israeli team of Gorbenko, Ron Polonsky, Groumi and Andi Murez finished in 10th place (3:45.33) and didn’t advance to the final.

At the Equestrian final, the Israeli team finished in 9th place as Robin Muhr was penalized 13 points, Ashlee Bond lost 20 points and Daniel Bluman withdrew as the squad finished with 157.45 points.