The second day of the European Judo Championships Juniors Tallinn 2024 saw old and new champions crowned in the Unibet Arena. The overall medals table remains dominated by the Azerbaijani team. Italy and Germany are chasing.
-73kg category – Galandarzade: A League Above the Rest
Top seed Vusal Galandarzade (AZE) had risen to all challenges en route to the semi-finals, where he literally overpowered his opponent with a stylish ure-nage, first scoring an ippon, before the score was reduced to a waza-ari. His force continued in the final against Dimitar Gospodinov (BUL), where Galandarzade first excelled with a counter-attack and shortly after finished the contest with an osoto-gari. While the Azerbaijani judoka was simply in a league of his own, notably, Bulgaria took home two medals in this weight category. Silver went to Gospodinov, who remarkably overcame second seed Giorgi Loladze (GEO) on his way to the final. His team-mate Victor Skerlev (BUL) finished third.
-63kg category – Sara-Joy Ends a Day Filled with Joy
Everything turned upside down in this category when Sara-Joy Bauer (GER) eliminated second seed Sara Corbo (ITA). The chaos continued in the top half of the draw as Anna Skalska (CZE) defeated top seed and junior world champion Melkia Auchecorne (FRA) in the quarter-finals. To add to the turmoil, Joni Geilen (NED) then sent Skalska down to the repechage stage, as she proceeded to meet Bauer in the final. In the first half of the final, Geilen took the lead with an osei-komi-waza that she held long enough to secure a waza-ari score. With less than two minutes to go, Bauer hooked in for an ouch-gari and manoeuvred herself and her opponent around to land for a score. On touchdown, the German judoka wasted no time in catching Geilen with a classic shime-waza.
-81kg category – Gold Medal Number Four
In the top half, fourth seed Suleyman Shukurov (AZE) crushed the field all the way to the quarter-finals, where he was briefly troubled by Luka Javakhishvili (GEO). Despite the momentary stumble, Shukurov continued on his way to the final. Second seed Aleksandre Loladze (GEO) delivered as expected in the bottom half to meet Shukurov in the final. Despite many attempts and ‘almost scores’ Loladze failed to capitalise and instead Shukurov excelled with a stylish ko-soto-gake into a lower kata-guruma combination. This victory was gold medal number four for the Azerbaijani team here in Tallinn.
-70kg category – Long Time Coming
Although all eyes were on Paris 2024 Olympian Tais Pina (POR), she was defeated in the second round by Teophila Darbes-Takam (FRA). The French judoka continued the flow by eliminating number two seed Aleksandra Kowalewska (POL). From there it was smooth sailing to the final. Meanwhile, top seed April Lynn Fohouo (SUI) absolutely dominated this division and not even a sore arm could stop the Swiss from triumphing. In her final bout, Fohouo put Darbes-Takam under constant pressure with a solid right top grip that highlighted her governing ouchi-gari skills. The Frenchwoman tried to give Fohouo a taste of her own medicine, but failed to land any of her own ouchi-gari attempts. Instead, Fohouo scored with waza-ari, which she was able to maintain for the remainder of the contest. With Fohouo’s consistent silver and bronze performances, the gold medal was a long time coming for both her and her country.
The third day of the event will start at 10:30am local time. Watch all actions live online via judotv.com .
Images: Gabi Juan / Carlos Ferreira
Author: Szandra Szogedi