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Second day of competition, second medal: Ronald Pröll (-90/UJZ Mühlviertel/Upper Austria) won his third bronze medal at the junior level at the home European Cup in Graz – after a two-year break. The 19-year-old prevailed with a waza-ari in the final seconds of the third-place bout against Timotej Kos (SLO), scoring the decisive point with a tai-otoshi.
It felt like half the club was there; they cheered me on loudly all day long. It’s really fun to compete at a home European Cup. Now all I’m missing is gold,
said the Upper Austrian.
Ronald was extremely strong, and with a bit of luck, a win in the semifinals would have been possible, too; he was on equal terms with the top-seeded Pole, Boldyriev,
analyzed ÖJV Sports Director Markus Moser.
On his way to the finals, Pröll eliminated the Dutchman Nils Baalmans, Stevan Nikcevic (MNE), and Armin Pacariz (GER/5). The UJZ talent suffered her only defeat in the semifinals against the top-seeded Oleksii Boldyriev (POL/1).
Marlene Schinwald (-57/JU Raika Flachgau/S) completed the red-white-red day’s results with 7th place. The 18-year-old from Salzburg prevailed against Leonie Wickert and Helene Riegert (both GER). Schinwald, currently number 118 in the junior rankings, suffered one defeat each against Noemi Varadi and Laura Igaz (both HUN).
In the medal table, host Austria finished eighth among 24 nations (tied with Croatia) with one silver and one bronze medal. The top 3: 1. France 7-4-3, 2. Japan 3-1-2, 3. Georgia 2-1-4.
Author: Austria Judo
Judoka
Author: EJU Media