EJU PODČETRTEK 2018
Great atmosphere, loud audience and strong fights made the sports hall Podčetrtek ecstatic for the weekend. The hall is close to Wellness Center Olimia, a paradise for many sports fans, athletes, coaches and also referees.
On the 23th and the 24th of June, Podčetrtek, a beautiful village in Slovenia became a place for more than 300 judoka. Even though the elites of the country were absent due to their preparation for the upcoming World Judo Championships, the organisers were more than happy to welcome judoka from 25 countries. 183 men and 131 women were fighting for points for the European Judo ranking list. The biggest team came from Germany with 72 athletes. The rejuvenated Slovenian team had 22 competitors, 14 men and 8 women. In the end Slovenia claimed two 5th places. Lia Ludvik in the -63 kg category and Blaž Vrankar in the -100 kg category.
“This event is very important for our athletes because they can present themselves in front of the home crowd and we use it for screening for young talented athletes”,
expressed Slovenian woman head coach, sports director of Slovenian Judo Federation and the President of the organising committee, Marjan Fabjan.
“We also host a lot of young judoka with a wish to get a new fresh experiances at the Seniors level. We would also like to expose some top Judo athletes which they participated at this great event. A lot of them already got top results from the Grand Prix and Grand Slam tournaments, but we would like to expose athletes with the medals from Masters, World Championships and Olympic Games.”
Aleksander WIECZERZAK from Germany is the current World Champion. Pavel PATRIKOV from Czech Republik took fifth place at the World Championships in Budapest last year and Masako DOL is Japanese champion in category -63 kg.
This was for the 6th time in a row that the European Judo Cup was hosted in the city Podčetrtek and 14th in general.
“Meanwhile this competition has become a tradition and we are proud to host this event. The tournaments helps us to promote Judo in Slovenia and Podčetrtek”,
said Marjan Fabjan. Judo club Z’Dežele Sankaku Celje and Slovenian Judo Federation (as an organizers) are very happy about great organization and the good collaboration with EJU.
