Five different nations won the gold medal at the second day of the European Junior Championships in Sarajevo.
Five different nations won the gold medal at the second day of the European Junior Championships in Sarajevo. Strong, almost senior judo by the middle weights and competitive fights resulted in the national anthems for Switzerland, Greece, The Netherlands, Russia and Croatia. It gives Russia the lead after two days, Azerbaijan and Greece shine with two brilliant men’s titles.
Women U57kg: Fabienne Kocher takes historical Swiss gold
The final for women U57kg was won by
Fabienne Kocher. The Swiss claimed her third medal at a European Junior Championship, but now the colour is gold. In the final she defeated Daria Mezhetskaia of Russia who outclassed the string German judoka
Theresa Stoll in the quarter final. Kocher defeated Amelie Stoll (GER) and
Jaione Equisoain (ESP) in the pool stage and beat Podolak in the semi. The final was equal in the first two minutes but Kocher took the lead halfway the match by yuko. Last year she finished fifth and with a medal in her pocket her judo looked controlled. Also in the last seconds Mezhetskaia couldn’t make it more difficult for Kocher who even scored a waza-ari in the dying seconds of the final fight.
The last Swiss to win the Junior European title was Lena Göldi in 1998 who won the Tournoi de Paris later in her career.
Nekoda Davis showed great elegant and composed judo today, but made one mistake in the semi final by a great barai of Mezhetskaia. In the fight for bronze she didn’t make any mistake and scored two waza-ari against Fanny Malmborg. Davis takes a medal in her last year as a junior, as expected.
Arleta Podolak defeated Anastasia Konkina of Russia by waza-ari in her last fight for bronze. Podolak won her pool but lost her semi final against
Fabienne Kocher.
Men U73kg: Another golden miracle for Greece
What a dream final between the highest seeded Roman Moustopoulos (GRE) and Levan Gugava (GEO) in the men’s U73kg category. After one and a half minute Moustopoulos showcased a textbook uchimata against the Georgian. The second gold medal for Greece. The nation is lifting of with again such success team coach by Nikos Iliadis, just like last year two European champions, with one more day to come. Moustopoulos was simply the best winning all five fights.
The fight for bronze was won by Belgian
Sami Chouchi who equaled a waza-ari behind 30 second for the end. Based on the penalties he beat Nicon Zaborosciuc of Moldova who came back in the repechage well after losing his quarterfinal against Jakub Jecminek (CZE). Chouchi crowns a stable season with two bronze medals in Lyon and Leibnitz and gold in Lignano, this bronze as the icing on the cake.
The second bronze was captured by Nuno Saraiva of Portugal who highlighted his season with a perfect medal. He was extremely happy to defeat Jakub Jecminek in his last fight.
Women U63kg: Dutch Velema surprises Gercsak on the ground
The four favourites in advance qualified for the semi finals in the women’s U63kg last four. Europe’s four strongest judoka went for the metal, but all equally strong.. on paper. In the end the final was between Hungarian miracle
Szabina Gercsak and one of Holland’s finest talents Do Velema. Gercsak, was favourite as she booked the better results in a range of age categories. She finished already sevent at the Senior Europeans and won almost everything in the cadet age such as her recent world title. Velema is the most stable this season in the junior category winning the most medals of all fighters in the circuit.
The final wasn’t different, both judoka were equal in the first two minutes in a strategic fight where Velema kept the initiative keeping Gercsak behind her attacking as first preventing the powerful throws of the Hungarian super talent. A tactical match without any risk with three penalties for both fighters lifting the fight into the climax in the golden score. After two minutes Velema proceeded on the ground with her specialty armlock, submitted by Gercsak giving the Dutch her second European title, after her cadet gold in 2011.
In the semi final Velema had a tough time against Jemima Yeats Brown who almost strangled the Dutch and otherwise caught Velema with her offensive style. However one massive counter of Velema was enough to send Yeats Brown to the bronze final.
Daniela Kazanoi of Belarus was the surprising bronze medallist against British Jemima Yeats Brown. One minute before the end she caught the British by yuko and survived the last attacks. In 2010 Mariya Slutskaya was the last to win a medal at the Junior Europeans. Jemima Yeats Brown had a morning showing good offensive judo. Her last two matches she gave away.
Austrian Magdalena Krssakova was deeply disappointed by her lost semi final but had the right mental flexibility to get back with a splendid bronze medal in her match against Israelian Bar Farin, who also showed surprising judo today. Krssakova only made one mistake, but is clearly one of the best in her category.
Men U81kg: Impressive Lappinagov wins European title
What a strong category and fine judo over the day in the men’s U81kg category. The gold medal was captured by Russian magician Aslan Lappinagov. This year he won the gold medal at the European Cups of St. Petersburg, Lyon and Berlin and in Sarajevo he confirmed is favourite position. In the final against Polish Tomasz Szczepaniak he took the lead after 90 seconds and strangled Szczepaniak some seconds later taking the gold. The Polish fighter wasn’t exactly expected in the final but had a superb day wining the pool including strong Abdulhagg Rassullu (AZE) and a devastating score against Greek Ntanatsidis. Lappiganov was however the best today with five victories and the European title as confirmation.
Winner of the first bronze was
Ivaylo Ivanov of Bulgaria after he defeated Alexios Ntanatsidis (GRE), the winner of the gold last year. Ivanov confirmed his development after his European gold medal in the cadet age in 2010 another time.
Mammadli Mehdiyev won the bronze in his last fight against Max Stewart of Great Britain.
Women U70kg: Matic captures her gold afterall
One year later she could now cherish the gold medal. Last year she was surprised by Belgian Lola Mansour when she had her first attempt, in Sarajevo she fought with a bag of experience how to close a final. Convincingly she fought the last match against Dariko Gabaidze of Russia who wasn’t the most expected judoka in the final. Despite her Russian junior title and silver in St. Petersburg European Cup, she destroyed all her previous three opponents but Matic was beyond that level. The Croatian talent is fighting at senior level and learned how to deal with the high expectations. Although Gabaidze gave good opposition it was the Croatian machine who steered Gabaidze on her back for waza-ari in the third minute. A lead she never gave away, she knew the hugs of her teammates were extra valuable.
Three years after her cadet title she’s on schedule for a dive into the next stage. The Junior world title and European U23 championships are a challenging short term outlook for golden Matic.
The bronze medal was for Italian Valentina Ferrari, who couldn’t score in her last fight but realized two penalties for opponent Yarden Mayersohn of Israel.
The second bronze was an extreme fight between
Aleksandra Samardzic of the home country Boznia and Herzegovina and Lea Pueschel of Germany. Pueschel led by penalties but Samardzic, supported by the home supporters gave everything which also gave the opportunity for Pueschel to counter the attacks and scored ippon in the last 30 seconds.
Follow the European Junior Championships again on Sunday and watch the photos in our gallery.
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