Three of the four categories on the fourth and final day of individual competition at the European Youth Olympic Festival 2025, will see Cadet European Champions vying for yet another major win this year, before the upcoming World Championships in Bulgaria to score the hat-trick.
Valerie TOMBOU (BEL) convincingly defeated Leni WELTER (LUX), scoring twice against her, on the first occasion with o soto gari, and later doubled her points with o guruma to take her place in the -70kg final. On the other side of the draw it was a closer call between Aleksandra ANDRIC (SRB) and Ana BESKER (CRO), with only four seconds left on the clock, there were no scores for either, but Andric saw an opening and took it. The worked to get the osaekomi, doing everything right, tying the head up, applying the pressure before freeing her leg to take the win.
The current -90kg Cadet European Champion, Május GENYS (LTU) was certainly tested in his semi final against Sieb GRIEDE (NED), but he managed to find a way in, scoring waza ari with o soto gari, and finished with soto makikomi to take his place in yet another major final in only four weeks.
Giorgi ZURABASHVILI (GEO) finished fifth place in the Cadet European Championships, but he will now walk away with a silver medal at the very least after winning his semi final against Nemanja SIMIC (SRB). This means that Simic will once again fight for a bronze medal, he also finished fifth alongside Zurabashvili. The Georgian athlete was very much in control of the contest, scoring first with a drop morote seoi nage, and later reacted with great speed to counter a ko uchi gake attempt.
The +70kg final will see Emma FEUILLET-NGUIMGO (FRA) face Antea AJDUKOVIC (CRO) for the gold medal. Like Genys, Feuillet-Nguimgo is also looking to secure her second title this year. She gave an impressive performance against Milic RADAKOVIC (SRB), countering an uchi mata attempt on two occasions, upping the value on each try, acquiring yuko and waza ari as the clock ticked down.
For Ajdukovic, it was a clearer and quicker win, committing to a tani o toshi technique and throwing opponent, Kristyna KASZPEROVA (CZE) for ippon.
It will a great final in the -90kg category, both athletes threw with blinding ippons and secured solid places to decide who will walk away with the EYOF gold. CSERMAK Daniel (HUN) is the favourite as current European Champion at cadet level, and Azriel DEKENNE DIFFO (FRA) finishing in seventh place. Nevertheless, the Frenchman is in the final today and has an equal chance. It was a colossal ashi guruma against Peter NOVAKOVIC (SRB) that brought him to it. As for Csermak, he lasted all of 16 seconds on the tatami, throwing Melichar SKODA (CZE) with uchi mata.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen