The second day of the 2018 Junior European Judo Championships will display the following five weight categories: Women -57kg, -63kg, -70kg and Men -73kg, -81kg. The official Opening Ceremony of the event is also scheduled for the afternoon.
No easy way around it
All three women weight division sees a convincing list of strong judoka ready to go for gold. Undoubtedly, there will be no easy route to success on this day. The -57kg category will see 35 competitors taking over the platform at the Sport Hall “Asics Arena”. Top seed of the category and 2017 Junior European Silver medallist, Acelya TOPRAK (GBR). Hitches for the British judoka can come from Sarah Leonie CYSIQUE. The French judoka won bronze at last year’s Europeans whilst debuting with great performance at the Senior Europeans earlier this year. A few of the current Cadets and fresh Juniors will seek growth this week. Namely, Iva OBERAN (CRO), Lara CVJETKO (CRO), Lisa GRABNER (AUT), Marica PERISIC (SRB), Flaka LOXHA (KOS) and Eteri LIPARTELIANI (GEO). Top seed of the -63kg category is Jovana OBRADOVIC (SRB). The Serbian judoka narrowly missed out on the rostrum last year at both, the Junior European and World Championships. She will seek for progress with her sister, Anja OBRADOVIC. Due to the current seeding, a sister final will not be possible, unless a no show amongst top four seeds. Emilia KANERVA (FIN) won bronze last year and will arrive to Sofia for more. It will not come as a surprise if young and very powerful Hungarian judoka, OZBAS Szofi, tops the podium. Current title holder of the -70kg category, Madina TAIMAZOVA (RUS) is number one seed whilst 2017 bronze medallist, Alice BELLANDI (ITA) settling in with few spots behind. Newcomers can cause distructions, namely, Marlene GALANDI (GER) and 2018 Tbilisi Grand Prix bronze medallist, Mariam TCHANTURIA (GEO). Daniela POLLERES (AUT) is the sister of Junior European silver medallist and Senior European bronze medallist, Michaela Polleres. Can she top her sister’s marks?
Jafarov to conitnue the golden show
Hidayat HEYDAROV won the -73g category in the past two years and this week it will be down to Hasil JAFAROV to keep the success for Azerbaijan. Unfortunately the Junior World silver medallist and 2018 senior European bronze medallist, Bilal CILOGLU (TUR) can not compete because of an injury.
The -81kg category will see four medallists returning from last year. Two will join up from the -73kg category, Murad FATIYEV (AZE) and Tato GRIGALASHVILI (GEO); whilst the other set is from the actual -81kg category, Luka MAISURADZE (GEO) and Christian PARLATI (ITA). The latter will be the top seed for this event. GOZ Roland (HUN) showed consistency at this year’s Junior European Cups, which will certainly support his routine in the capital.
The second day will see another set of eight Bulgarian judoka enjoying the benefit of the home crowd. Here is the list of competitors: Izabela HRISTOVA (-57kg), Yoana MANOVA (-57kg), Lidia BRANCHEVA (-63kg), Zornitsa CHEKORATOVA (-63kg), Polin BALEVA (-70kg), Georgi GRAMATIKOV (-73kg), Dobromir KALISTERSKI (-73kg) and Kristiyan ANEV (-81kg). The tournament will begin at 10:00am local time. Remember you can watch all the actions live online via eju.net.
