Finland could celebrate a first gold medal at the Finnish Open by means of Antti Virta U81kg. Virta defeated Walter Azoula (FRA) in the final. Virta won a bronze medal last week at the Swedish Open. Despite his age of 22 he is very experienced. He won the Nordic Championships before and nearly won a medal at the European U23 Championships last year.
His opponent Azoula won his first major international medal in the European Cup.
France is leading after day one in Vantaa winning three out of seven categories of today and seven medals in total.
Alexandre Lhomme U90kg, the experienced Christophe Humbert U100kg and in the women’s category Emilie Lafont took the gold winning of her compatriot Elodie Grou.
Canada dominated the super lightweight category U48kg with a Canadian final between Bianca Ockedahl and Marie-Pier Gauvreau, won by the national Champion Ockedahl.
Sweden performed well collecting a gold medal by heavyweight Christoffer Johansson, last week’s bronze medalist in Sweden. Martin Pacek who took the gold medal in Boras last week, now collected silver losing to 30-year old Christophe Humbert (FRA).