The first day of the Anadia Junior European Cup is over and, as always, it was full of excellent and exciting fights! This Junior European Cup had 348 athletes from 17 countries.
Team Italy topped the medal table with 2 golds and 1 bronze, followed by the host country, Portugal, which won 4 medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronzes), while Kazakhstan closed today’s Top 3 with 1 gold and 1 bronze.
Today’s highlight goes to Maria SILVEIRA (-63kg), the reigning European Cadet Champion in the -57kg category, who made the home crowd happy to hear the anthem. Silveira changed categories and ended up shining. She may have changed category but not the colour of her medal. She demonstrated her dominance over her opponents and is, step by step, building her way to a bright future, regardless of the category she takes.
After a long break, it was my return to international competition. I saw this competition as a training experience, having decided not to lose weight and to try out the upper category. I felt good physically and technically and I’m happy with my performance.
Also noteworthy was Portugal’s Taís PINA who reached the final in the -70kg category but was stopped in the final by Gaya BAR OR from Israel who took the gold in a very tight contest. Rodrigo JANEIRO (-66kg), who won the silver medal at the 2023 Cadet European Championships, was also in the spotlight, winning the bronze medal, as well as Fábia CONCEICAO (-78kg), who also won the bronze medal in her category.
The 2023 Asian Junior Champion and bronze medallist in the World Junior Championships, Talgat ORYNBASSAR from Kazakhstan confirmed his status by claiming the gold medal in the -60kg category.
Tomorrow is the last day of this competition and looking from today’s competition, expectations are high for all the judoka. We believe it will be a very exciting day, with lots of emotion and some great contests!
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen