Closing the U23 European Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the Mixed Team event.
Again at this level, France were unable to secure a place in the final, losing out to Germany in a decider. Taking her team through to the semi final against Hungary was the individual -70kg bronze medallist, Friederike STOLZE.
On the other side of the draw, Georgia also found themselves in a decider with Ukraine for their place in the semi final against Türkiye. Ruslana BULAVINA (UKR) had defeated Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze medallist Sophio SOMKHISHVILI (GEO) yesterday in the individual competition and did so again in the mixed team event, however it was the +70kg category that was drawn as the decider. With the motivation of her team behind her, and the chance to rectify her prior losses, Somkhishvili astounded the venue with an ippon-scoring o goshi, securing the win for her team and getting the defending champions closer to the final.
After a continuously impressive day, and getting stronger in each contest, Germany once again powered through to take a 4:1 win against Hungary. Their fourth and final contest putting them through was won by Lea SCHMID.
Unfortunately they weren’t able to tackle team Türkiye in their semi final, a final win coming from the current U23 European champion, Hilal OZTURK to take them towards that gold medal.
Neither team Germany or Türkiye managed to find their place on the podium last year but the team have changed and we have some major talent leading the charge today.
Georgia will now fight for bronze against France and Hungary against Ukraine. The final block will start at 15:00 and can be watched at live.ijf.org.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen