At the end of the European Cadet single competitions in Odivelas (POR), the Grande Nation was not only happy about the second gold medal after Alyssia POULANGE (-52), but also about the only internal final duel of the title fights. Top seed Celia CANCAN, World Championships silver medallist in Sarajevo 2022, was the clear favourite to win the title against world No 2 Leonie MINKADA-CAQUINEAU. The 16-year-old had won four tournaments in a row and was leading 4:0 in the personal head-to-head with her one year younger compatriot. In the four duels (total fighting time: 12:00 minutes) Minkada-Caquineau had not even managed a score. In Portugal, however, the youngster’s knot burst and she won her first European title as number two. For the third time in a row, France finished a European Cadet Championships in the top-5 of the medal table.
More facts and figures from the European Championships Cadets 2023:
– Azerbaijan finished the European Under-18 Championships with an impressive record. After two second places in the medal table (2021 Riga, 2022 Porec), they managed to win for the first time and did so in more than commanding style. With 6 x gold and 3 x bronze, the Azeris were more successful than the next three nations together (FRA, TUR, SRB).
– No less than five times two athletes from the same nation stood on the podium at the award ceremonies: -52: 1st Alyssia Poulange, 3rd Alyicia Marques, +70: 1st Leonie Minkada-Caquineau, 2nd Celia Cancan (all FRA). Celia Cancan (all FRA), -50: 1st Mahammad Mamishov, 3rd Ahmad Rustamov, -66: 1st Abil Yusubov, 3rd Mehdi Yafarov (AZE), -81: 1st Boris Rutovic, 3rd Dusan Grahovac (both SRB).
– Short worker on the 3rd day of competition was Tuana Gulenay (TUR). The final victory over Marta Navickaite (LTU) was wrapped up in less than a minute and success no. 18 this year. For her four fights the Turk was on the mat for a total of only 3:54 minutes, shorter than the regular fighting time of a fight.
– A total of 9 nations were able to celebrate at least one European Championship title, 23 (of a total of 40) nations were listed in the medal table. Eight nations had to make do without a placement at all.
Judoka
Author: EJU Media