13 June 2009

World Cup Madrid Review

World Cup Madrid Review

The EJU World Cup in Madrid showed a very strong participants list. Perhaps not in quantity but the quality was clear when watching the finals.
Under 63kg Elisabeth Willeboordse took the first of two gold medals for The Netherlands. In the final she beat her strong compatriot Anicka van Emden, who won bronze at the IJF Grand Slam in Moscow. Van Emden seems to be a good best alternative for Holland’s strong World Championships team in this weight category. Last week Esther Stam won the gold at the EJU World Cup in Lisbon in the same weight.
On Sunday here in Madrid Ana Cachola took the bronze as well as French Anne Laure Poli.

Edith Bosch won her 11th World Cup in her career by beating Spanish Cécilia Blanco under 70kg. Bosch’ last victory was in June 2008 when she won the World Cup in Rome. Blanco, the Spanish champion won this year in Prague
Her compatriot Leire Iglesias finished third, together with Elisabeth Greve who won this category last week in Lisbon and beat Iglesias on Sunday in the second round.

Anastastiya Matrosova (UKR) won the U78kg category. She conquered S[anish champion Raquel Prieto. Matrosova celebrated another milestone, she won her 10th World Cup. Her last time however was a long time ago for the 27-year old Ukraine judoka. In august 2006 she won the World Cup in Baku.
Dutch Rachel Schoonderbeek is a collector of bronze medals. Today she beat Hyon (PRK), last week she won the bronze in Lisbon, as well as at the European U23 Championships last year in Zagreb. She was joint on the stage by Portuguese Yahima Ramirez who beat Claudia Zwiers (NED). Zwiers beat Spanish European champion Esther San Miguel in the golden score in their second round.

Polish heavyweight Ursula Sadkowska mastered Gulsah Kocaturk (TUR) in the final O78kg by two waza-ari’s. Spanish talent Sara Alvarez won the bronze, as well as French Rebecca Ramanich.

On Saturday Sarah Menezes again won the U48 weightclass in Madrid, just like last week in Lisbon. Menezes beat Ukrainian champoion Tetyana Lusnikova (UKR) in the final to win her second World Cup.
KIM Mi Sung from North Korea and Elena Moretti shared the bronze.

In the U52 kilogram category Ana Carrascosa was the major favourite and she dealt with that pressure. In the final North Korean JO Song Hui wasn’t able to defend Carrascosa.
Kitty Bravik (NED) and Ilse Heylen, won the bronze, just like they both did at the European Championship in Tbilisi.

Another gold medal for Brazil in the women’s U57kg class, as Rafaela Silva beat Romanian Corina Caprioriu in the final. The World junior champion beat the Romanian policewoman by ippon.
Again a medal for Michelle Diemeer (NED). Last week runner-up in Lisbon, today ranked third together with North Korean RIM Yunhui who took the third medal for the strong Asians.

The Netherlands won the medal tally winning 6 medals in total, followed by host nation Spain (5 medals). In total Brazil (2), Holland (2), Spain (1), Ukraine (1) and Poland (1) divided the gold in Madrid. Spain missed two chances for the gold.

Join us from the 25th of June at http://www.eju.net for live results from the European U17 Championships in Koper.

By Hans van Essen, EJU Media and PR Director

Judoka