The official press conference of the European Judo Championships Tel Aviv 2018 took place at the Convention Centre this afternoon with five distinguished guests: The President of the European Judo Union, Mr. Sergey Soloveychik; CEO of Israel Judo Association, Mr. Sagi Gur; Rio 2016 Olympic Bronze medallist and World Champion, Yarden Gerbi; Triple IJF World Tour medallist, Yarden Mayersohn and Double IJF World Tour Winner, Peter Palchik.
Mr Soloveychik has complimented the hard work & tremendous efforts that have been made by Moshe Ponte and his team of Israeli Judo Association in preparations to the main event of the European Judo Union.
“We are happy to return to Tel Aviv since November 2016 when the U23 European Judo Championships were hosted so successfully. I am happy with the friendship and cooperation we have inside the European Judo Family, it is a big pleasure to organise one more high level event together. I would like to thank the Israeli Judo Association for their professional approach and big judo heart. I wish to all national federations a successful performance at Israeli tatami and good results to our participating athletes.”
CEO, Mr Gor was asked about the preparation towards the event;
“I have to start by saying, without the support for the Ministry of Culture of Sports we would not be able to host this tournament. The preparation in the venue started right after our Independence Day and has been an ongoing process since. The preparation behind the scenes started a year ago. We are hoping to have a lot of success and we hope that everyone will enjoy their stay in Israel.” Olympic Bronze medallist, Gerbi, expressed her thoughts of having such a tournament hosted in Israel for the first time; “First and foremost, the atmosphere has been great leading up to the championships and the team is truly going to enjoy this experience. It is the first ever experience having the Senior European Championships here and having such a tournament hosted at your own country gives athletes additional motivation that you cannot bring from within; it comes from outside, from the audience.” Triple IJF World Tour Medallist, Yarden Mayersohn; “There is no easy tournament, but one thing we can be sure of is that all of us will give everything we have. In regards to competing on the last day, it is something I am used to as I am always on the last day, regardless. Of course, if any other members of the team win a few medals before us, it is something that could influence our performances, but at the end, you are on your own in the middle of the mat.” Double IJF World Tour Winner, Peter Paltchik; “I am very excited to compete on home soil and I have just recently discovered that all tickets have been sold for all three days. This shows that everyone is excited to see us and we are all excited to compete for our home crowd. Surely, if the team was to deliver medals before it is time for us to compete, it is something we can gather momentums from.” 
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