The Birmingham Junior European Cup 2024 welcomed 16 nations to join the Great Britain delegation for a weekend of strong competition. Though France eventually finished on top of the medal table with an impressive five gold medals, one silver and eight bronze, this event also allowed light to shine on the smaller nations competing.
Sweden has a slight advantage some would say as senior World medallist, Tara BABULFATH decided to compete in the heavier category of -52kg before the Paris Olympic Games and stole the show on the second day, defeating the Madrid European Open bronze medallist, Laura GOMEZ ANTONA (ESP) in the final.
Team Cyprus took two medals during the event; a gold in the -66kg category from Georgios KALAITSIDIS, his first medal as a junior athlete. Also, Petros KESOV continued the success for Cyprus in the -81kg category, taking silver medal after suffering defeat to 2022 EYOF Champion, Joshua DE LANGE (NED), who managed to best his bronze medal result from the first edition of the Birmingham Junior European Cup in 2023. Alexios SPERLIDIS (GRE) also secured a silver medal at -100kg, and for Denmark, a bronze from Morgan ERRBOE in the -73kg category.
The Great Britain team placed fourth in the medal table with their end result of one gold from the events top ranked judoka, Luke DAVIES (-73kg), followed by four silver and four bronze. The -73kg category was extremely strong for the home nation, taking a silver and bronze by Irakli GOGINASHVILI and Benjamin LEVY.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen