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Dubrovnik, 413 competitors in total, 279 men, 135 women, 11th European Cup in a row, 5 medals for Croatia, 2 gold, Day 1 is over. At the cup held in “Gospino Polje” from 5th to 6th April, the most successful were Iva OBERAN and Tina RADIĆ, who won gold medals, Nina SIMIĆ and Lorena PERKOVIĆ silver, and Nina CVJETKO bronze.
The women’s category up to 63kg was the most numerous in the senior women’s competition, 36 competitors fought for the podium today in Gospino Polje. Croatian final, seventh from the last world championship, eighth ranked in the IJF WRL, Dubrovnik’s Iva Oberanagainst 20-year-old Nina Simić, 92nd in the world rankings. Oberanopens the fight brilliantly at 34 seconds into the gold medal match and throws her opponent to a yuko. Until the end, the 25-year-old competitor routinely kept the fight under control and won the gold medal.
“The feeling is incredible, I’m really happy. I can say that I was a little nervous all day, I’m the top seed, I know what’s expected of me and as you said there were a lot of fans and they all came to watch and support me, I think I owed them something and I can really say that I’m overjoyed. I did every fight with maximum focus, that was the goal, good preparation for the European Championship.” – Oberanbegan.
Is this tournament perhaps a little below your level?
– Honestly, it was the coach’s idea, just before the European Championship, because he knew that there would be some kind of pressure on me and he wanted me to do it earlier. I didn’t do the Grand Slam Tbilisi because I got sick on the day of the trip, so we said I would do Dubrovnik and collect additional fights before the European Championships.
“I’ve said many times that I’m used to my category being the most numerous and somehow it doesn’t pose a big problem for me, but when I look at how many fewer competitors there were in other categories and that they only started fighting at 11am, and I’ve been in the venue since 6.45am. My first fight was at 8am, I can only say it was a long day, but when you win gold, you kind of forget all that. I’m really happy that out of the 4 competitors, 3 are Croatians on the podium, the girls really exceeded my expectations today. I’m really happy for them, I think this is a huge success for all of Croatian judo.” – added Iva Oberan in closing.
Oberan registered five wins today, defeating Nataša JEFTIĆ (MNE), Deobra GJAKOVA (KOS), Fantine RAUZIER (FRA), NadiahKRATCTHEN (NED) and Nina Simić (CRO).
Nina Simić, may not have won gold today, but being in the final block of the Dubrovnik tournament for three years in a row is no small feat.
– Great, a slightly different experience because I fought Iva, who is also a member of the national team, audience is cheering for her and me, the noise is louder. Great, good fight, maybe it could have been a little stronger. There is still a lot of Dubrovnik’s, so next year we will try to improve a little more. The competition is really big this year, a lot of new girls, slightly different partners. I am glad I came here because at this tournament I fought with girls I have not faced before.
Nina Cvjetko, the middle sister, between her older sister Lara and her youngest sister Jane, won the bronze medal today, together on the podium with Oberan, Simić and Olympic champion Barbara MATIĆ, who presented them with their medals.
– Good impressions after the bronze. The day started, not too well, I lost the first round, but after that I managed to come back, get my head together and did everything to the end. I am very satisfied. I did not have too high expectations, I came to fight, to do my best, and I think I did that.
As expected, the gold was won by the former world champion, Swiss Nils STUMP, bronze medalist from last year’s world championship. Today he recorded six wins in the -73kg category, opening the day with a win against Almog MERMELSHTEIN (ISR), and continuing the streak against Aydin RZAYEV (AZE), Harry LE MARE (GBR), John WAIZENNEGGER (SUI), Nazar KULIESHOV (UKR) and Martin HOJAK (SLO).
“I feel good, really good, I’m happy to be back. I haven’t fought in a long time, I really enjoyed being back on the mat, and with the gold medal it’s even better. The long break after the Olympics, now, this year is more like a focus on building on the year, a focus on training. My coach and I thought it was a good opportunity to fight in a competition like this to win some fights, to get back to a competitive way. It was a long day, quite early, I’m not used to this, but it was great, I enjoyed the fight. I don’t think I’ll fight in the European Championships yet, most likely the next big event for me will be the IJF Grand Slam Astana,” said the 27-year-old Stump, winner of the 66-competitor category.
Author: Mario Krvavac, Croatian Judo Federation
Author: EJU Media