Serbian judoka were everywhere as the team came, saw and conquered in the final block of the last day of individual competition at the European Judo Championships Juniors Tallinn 2024. Nevertheless, Team Azerbaijan managed to maintain their top position on the overall medal table, with France in third place finish.
-90kg category – Taking the Unknown Well
Unseeded Aslan Kotsoev (AZE) wowed with both his tachi-waza and ne-waza skills throughout the preliminary rounds to secure his place in the final. To show he meant business, Kotsoev also defeated top seed Oleksii Boldyriev (SLO) along the way. Meanwhile, Pool C was a complete knockout of champions. In the end, Ivan Kutenkov (UKR) battled his way through to set up a semi-final clash with Milan Radulj (SRB). Radulj proved to be the better of the two. He then confirmed his credentials in the final, taking the unknown well and outclassing Kotsoev. Despite some brilliant efforts from Radulj and attempts to throw his opponent with either a kouchi-gari or an ouchi-gari, the contest ended in a golden score when Kotsoev took his last and final penalty for passivity. To add to the delight, Radulj explained how little time he had – two randori sessions – to prepare for this event. For someone who came with no expectations, he delivered above and beyond.
-78kg category – Repeated Success
An all-German final was expected at the start of the day with top seed and world number 3, Eva Ronja Buddenkotte and world number 5, Mathilda Sophie Niemeyer. The latter stumbled over Lila Mazzarino (FRA), who later found herself in the final. Despite a dominant start, Buddenkotte was outclassed by Jovana Stjepanovic (SRB) in the semi-finals. Conclusively, Lila Mazzarino (FRA) was ready to take on Stjepanovic in the final. The Serbian was looking for revenge from the Paks Junior Cup 2024 but she was unable to find the solution to stop Mazzarino. The French judoka impressed with her uchi-mata skills and timely counter-attacks to secure the first gold medal for France at this championship.
-100kg category – One After Another
Junior world bronze medallist 2023, Joes Schell (NED), had high hopes of making the final but Milan Bulaja (SRB) wanted a shot of his own and literally swept Schell’s feet off the floor and into ne-waza. Bulaja was able to continue his flow and secure an osae-komi-waza long enough to guarantee himself a Junior European medal. Meanwhile, Estonia’s top-ranked junior judoka, Jakob Vares (EST), remained very focused and consistent throughout the day to reach the final at the Unibet Arena. The crowd joined in the celebration. Vares really put himself on the line and threw his best techniques into the mix, however Bulaja was a class above him this time and collected another gold medal for Serbia.
+78kg category – Gold, Finally!
Freshly crowned world cadet bronze medallist Emma-Melis Aktas (EST) only landed back from Lima on Tuesday. Jetlag is certainly no challenge for the 16-year-old judoka as she exceeded expectations, mostly using her ne-waza skills to book her place in the final. Celia Cancan (FRA), a double cadet world and European medallist has been a consistent performer in recent years. Today… finally… she broke the curse of losing finals and conjured up a gold medal and a Junior European title. She achieved such with her signature ouchi-gari.
+100kg category – An Almost Smooth Day in The Office
Ibrahim Tataroglu (TUR) may not have been the top seed in the category but he certainly had the best resume. He arrived in Tallinn fresh from the Paris Olympics. Apart from Kanan NASIBOV (AZE), who gave Tataroglu a good run for his money, the Turkish judoka’s experience won out. In the final he met Davit Kevlishvili (ESP) who almost scored on his elite opponent. Tataroglu took this as a wake-up call and quickly got the better of the Spaniard, wrapping them up for a maki-komi, landing for waza-ari and ending their bout with a ne-waza.
The last and final day of the tournament will showcase the mixed-team event filled with plenty of excitement and anticipations. Watch all actions live online via judotv.com
Author: Szandra Szogedi