On the first day of the Cadet World Championships, despite stiff competition from the other continents, Europe boasted a clean sweep of the gold medals and four gold medallists were hailed from Spain, IJF, Slovakia and Azerbaijan.
There were of course high hopes from the top athletes in Europe who earlier claimed their European title in Bulgaria this summer; Aiora MARTIN CARRICHES (ESP/-40kg) and Patricia TOMANKOVA (SVK/-44kg) doubled up on their Cadet success by conquering their respective weight categories on day one of the Cadet World Championships 2024 in Lima, Peru.
Both young women entered as the top seeded athletes and naturally with a target on their back but they responded in a mature, professional fashion, and saw out their opponents one by one before reaching the ultimate final. For Martin, this is her first World final, whereas for Tomankova, she took gold in 2023 as an -40kg athlete, and challenged herself in the -44kg weight class as she knows she will be advancing to -48kg as a senior.
As for Martin, the -40kg final was a repeat of that in the European Championships with Mathilde AUREL (FRA). In Bulgaria, the pair went head to head deep in to golden score before the contest was decided for the Spanish athlete, but on this occasion, a waza ari score only 12 seconds in to the contest, won the title for Martin.
In the slightly more populated -44kg category, it was a tough day for Tomankova, who had an entirely new line up compared to her European endeavour, including athletes from Kazakhstan and finally, Brazil. The best of the best reached the final, and Tomankova gave a great effort against Juliana YAMASAKI, both finding it almost impossible to find a successful entry, but after eight minutes of contest time, Yamasaki was issued a third shido, and Tomankova, her fifth major title.
As for the men, Nihad MAMISHOV (AZE) had high expectations for himself, coming to Lima as the defending World Champion, however that title was won in the -50kg category. This year, he has ventured in the the -55kg group, and though he had proven himself in European Cadet Cup events, he was devastated in the European Championships, losing his first contest. After some regrouping, he stepped out on to the tatami in Lima, a winner. It was a day he simply couldn’t be stopped on the ground, and reigned as the ne waza king. Mamishov saw out European medallists including KUNYIK Botond (HUN) and Khazar HEYDAROV (UKR) before facing BATBILEG Bat-Enerel (MGL) for the gold medal.
In the -50kg category, unseeded Aleksei TOPTYGIN (IJF) stunned his opponents, knocking out top seed Bahadir FEYZULLAYEV (AZE) in the second round, and finally Yuri PEREIRA (BRA) with a well-timed tani otoshi for the world title.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen