European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

WE MADE HISTORY!

Rumen STOILOV, President of the Bulgarian Judo Federation is a happy man. “Bulgaria has been developing the Judo for 80 years and this is the first time we are hosting European Judo Championships with the participation of 361 judoka from 40 countries. It was our honor and pleasure to welcome in…

1 May 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

SOFIA, GRAVEYARD OF CHAMPIONS

There have been many surprises on the final day of the European Judo Championships in Sofia. Romane DICKO (FRA) is the only top seed to have made it in to the final, and while we see the big names and favourites losing out, we see the new generation pushing through. …

1 May 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

BACK TO NORMAL LIFE

“It feels really good to have spectators back on the tribune. The atmosphere in Sofia was excellent, so was the sportive level of the European Championships. I can only congratulate Rumen STOILOV, President of the Bulgarian Judo Federation, and his team for the excellent job. The 70th edition of the…

1 May 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

KRPALEK COLLECTS FURTHER ACCOLADES

Double Olympic champion Lukas KRPALEK has been presented on Friday as the EJU Best Male Athlete of 2021. The 31-year-old talks in the award interview, in this two-part piece, why he could not stay in Sofia, Bulgaria to watch his +100kg opponents and who he expects to rise for glory…

1 May 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

TURNING OF THE TIDES ON DAY TWO

Each of the gold medallists today have endured a struggle of some sort; weight changes, difficulties against a particular opponent, or even just a spell of not being able to fulfil their potential, but today they all turned it around and managed to hear their national anthem atop the European…

30 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

SEE YOU IN VIENNA

“It’s great to see the European Championships debut in Bulgaria. They have a long Judo tradition and are consinstantly winning medals at top-level and it is no surprise, that they also clinch medals in front of their home crowd”, emphasized IJF President Marius VIZER at his visit in the Bulgarian…

30 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

KRPALEK: "MY PERFECT DAY!"

EJU Award 2021 for the best male athlete goes to… LUKAS KRPALEK Due to a shoulder and neck injury, double Olympic champion Lukas KRPALEK decided to skip the European Championships in Sofia. He still made the journey on Friday to the Bulgarian capital, in order to receive the EJU Award…

30 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

EMOTIONS RUN HIGH ON DAY ONE

-48kg Shirine BOUKLI (FRA) vs Catarina COSTA (POR)  It started as a difficult head to head for Boukli and Costa, neither seemed able to find a way in to score, unfortunately this meant that the shidos began to rack up for both athletes. With little time available on the clock…

29 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

FAMILY AFFAIR

First day of the European Seniors Championships in Sofia (BUL) and the host could already clinch the first medal. The home crowd in the Armeec Arena has dreamed of the first European title for Bulgara since 1981 (Georgi Petrov, -78). Yanislav GERCHEV came close. He defeated on his way to…

29 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

BULGARIAN DEBUT

The senior European Judo Championships 2022 are staged in Sofia, Bulgaria, from Friday to Sunday. It’s the 70th edition of the EJU Prime Event and the first one organised by the Bulgarian Federation. It’s a great pleasure to host 361 top-judoka from 40 countries. For us it will be a…

28 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

DICKO DETERMINED TO TAKE BACK EUROPEAN TITLE

There is a fantastically strong line up in the +78kg women’s category this year. Romane DICKO (FRA) sits atop of the list, both as number one seed and ranked number one in the world. The 22 year-old has already achieved so much and is coming to Sofia in search of…

28 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

YOUNGER GENERATION CHASE TUSHISHVILI AS HE SEEKS THIRD TITLE

The number one seed and favourite for the European title 2021 is Guram TUSHISHVILI (GEO). After a break following the Olympic Games where he placed second, he has succeeded in two grand slam events, looking strong as ever. He already has two senior titles but on the past two attempts…

27 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

MALONGA IN RACE FOR THIRD EUROPEAN TITLE

The -78kg category is a true mix of the veteran athletes and the up and comers. Coming for that European title are the likes of Alice BELLANDI (ITA) and Inbar LANIR (ISR). Both have demonstrated their capabilities on the IJF tour with numerous medals and will certainly be a threat…

26 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPION FONSECA SEEKS FIRST EUROPEAN TITLE IN SOFIA

Despite rumour, Varlam LIPARTELIANI has not left the building. Though his post-Tokyo social media delivery certainly gave the impression that the team captain of Georgia was taking a step away from competition, we soon noticed him back in the Bundesliga and in the European Club Championships – Champions League in…

25 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

RETURN BY GRAF THROWS OFF SEEDING IN -70KG

Reigning European champion, Sanne VAN DIJKE (NED) is coming in strong as the #2 seed and is certainly one to beat for the rest of the women in this category, including the #1 seed, Barbara MATIC (CRO). The pair have looked solid in their preparations for Sofia on the IJF…

24 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

DOUBLE EUROPEAN FINALIST IVANOV SET TO IMPRESS HOME CROWD IN -90KG

The -90kg category continues to be unpredictable as ever. In many of the weight categories we can identify the top few we expect to outperform the others, but in this men’s one, the standard is so high amongst many nations that there is no way of knowing who will end…

23 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

CATEGORY MOVES COULD CAUSE A STIR IN -63KG

Without the typical big names Clarisse AGBEGNENOU (FRA) and Tina TRSTENJAK (SLO), we look to their replacements in the 2022 edition of the European Judo Championships and wonder, can they match up?  For Slovenia they have a fitting athlete, the second seed and ranked third in the world, Andreja LESKI.…

22 April 2022

European Judo Championships Sofia 2022 - Sofia, Bulgaria

OLYMPIC MEDALLIST MOTIVATES TEAM FOR SUCCESS

As we prepare for the senior European Judo Championships 2022 in Sofia, Bulgaria, the national team is in preparation and with them is 2004 Olympic bronze medallist, Georgi GEORGIEV. The lightweight judoka retired in 2010 with three European championship medals and is now managing the team to reap success between…

21 April 2022