First and foremost, a good silver medal went to Marlene Galandi of Germany. Galandi wasted no time, winning all her preliminary matches by IPPON, to take her into her fifth final this year. In the final, the German unfortunately fell short and had to settle for a silver medal but nevertheless a great performance from this young lady, who has been extremely consistent throughout the season, having qualified for the final in every tournament she has attended.
Erik Abramov of Germany also ended his day with a silver medal in the men’s +100 kg category. Abramov showed good judo throughout the day and did, as well, win all of his opening contests with IPPON - A good performance from the Junior World bronze medalist, who could be happy about having won his second European Cup medal this year.
He could share the podium with another Ippon Gear athlete; Richard Sipocz of Hungary, who picked up a bronze medal. The triple Cadet European Champion has been very consistent throughout the whole season and recently won up his first Grand Prix medal. This weekend, he could add another medal to his collection and did once again confirm, that he is one to watch in this category.
In the -90 kg category, Martin Bezdek of Czech Republic picked up a good silver medal. Bezdek had a great performance on the day and could be happy about having won his first ever medal at a Junior European Cup. Last year, the Czech won a bronze medal in the Cadet edition of the Berlin European Cup, but this year, he could upgrade this result to a silver medal.
Bezdek’s team mate Renata Zachova ended her day with a bronze medal in the category under 63 kg. After finishing on the podium in her home event in Prague last weekend, Zachova came into this competition with a good momentum. The Czech made it all the way to the semifinal, where she unfortunately fell short but came back strongly to take a good bronze medal.
Furthermore, Seija Ballhaus came close to a podium finish in the -57 kg category but narrowly missed out and had to settle for a 5th place. In the same category, Andrea Karman of Hungary finished with a 7th place.
Next up for our athletes will be the Junior European Cup in Cluj-Napoca in Romania, which will be the last Junior European Cup of the year. We wish good luck to all of our athletes - As always, we will be covering all action, stay tuned.
