Azerbaijani
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Estonian
Finnish
French
Georgian
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Author: Tatjana Flade
Belgium has produced many judo champions and has a long tradition in the sport. Now something new happened: The European Judo Championships Seniors in Podgorica, Montenegro, marked the debut of Belgium in the mixed team event.
“It’s for the first time we have a mixed team,” new Federation President Sebastien Bonte revealed. “There were men’s and women’s teams and we had a men’s and a women’s team since the end of the 90s but we have never had mixed teams.
“We had always good athletes but the individual programs, and the Flemish and the French speaking coaches, had to coordinate their agendas for creating a mixed team and that never happened,” Bonte explained.
A mixed team consists of three women and three men. The format has been introduced at the European Championships in 2018. “For the first time, we had some changes on the French speaking side among the coaches and that opened the door. We could take the French speaking and Flemish athletes and even though we are not here with all our best athletes, we put together a nice team for our first participation.”
In Belgium, the news about a mixed team that consists of Flemish and French speaking athletes was very well received. “Since we announced it on TV and in the press, everyone in Belgium is talking about it,” Bonte shared. “It’s the first time for us and a lot of people in Belgium are following it. Now we want to create a name for our team. In Belgium, all the teams have names such as the ‘Red Devils’ or the ‘Red Lions’.”
The Federation plans to organise a contest among the judoka and the fans to find the name and a logo. So stay tuned for that contest and maybe the Belgian mixed team will already have a name for the next event as they plan to compete at the World Judo Championships in Budapest in June.
Meanwhile, on site, Team Belgium faced Team Netherlands in the first round and came out on top with a 4:2 victory. With this win, they will now face Team Italy in the quarter-finals.
Author: EJU Media