The last medals of the second day of competition in Tbilisi would be decided among the -63 kg athletes. Could 2024 world champion Joanne Van Lieshout (NED) hold pole position for the whole day and take her first senior European title? The answer came fast!
Facing the 23-year-old Dutch judoka was 2022 world bronze medallist Manon Deketer (FRA), an athlete who doesn’t hold back. Deketer arrived, true to form, with an aggressive first grip, but Van Lieshout felt her moment had arrived early and countered for a yuko, immediately transitioning into a hold for ippon. It was still just the first exchange but it was already over and Van Lieshout could add a senior European crown to her trophy cabinet!
In the first bronze medal contest, Kaja Kajzer (SLO) arrived on the tatami with an aggressive, pro-active style but Iva Oberan (CRO) was ready for it. She controlled the pace and her own positioning and was able to score early in the contest.
As the time passed, Kajzer increased the pace further but Oberan remained vigilant and countered an o-uchi-gari attempt for a waza-ari, strengthening her lead. No further changes were made to the scoreboard and so Oberan could smile and celebrate winning her first continental medal.
The last medal of the category would go to Carlotta Avanzato of Italy or Angelika Szymanska of Poland. They each delivered solid preliminary session performances on the way to the final block and so the battle for bronze was likely to be tight.
Gripping infringements began to bring the penalties but with just ten seconds to go, Szymanska applied an inescapable juji-gatame. Ippon was scored and she released an enormous grin.
The bronze medal would be heading back to Poland with Angelika Szymanska, the second senior European medal of her career.
Author: Jo Crowley