Youngster Karla Prodan was on fire in Zagreb as she claimed her first ever Grand Prix medal in the -78 kg when she won the bronze medal in front of her home crowd. The crowd was ecstatic as she did so and Prodan was overwhelmed with feelings as she greeted the crowd. She had an amazing performance throughout the day and the Junior World Bronze medalist has been improving ever since she moved into seniors and today all her hard work paid off. Ippon Gear could not be prouder to see a new face on the podium with such determination!
Ashley McKenzie had a tremendous day in Zagreb. The British -60 kg category fighter took one fight at a time and went for the IPPON in all his matches. It led him to the final which turned out to be a very hard one indeed. Ashley was leading throughout the whole match but in the end, lost the lead and had to settle for the silver medal. We know it was not what you came for but it shows that you belong on the podium! Keep going!
As always, we found Michaela Polleres on the podium. A place that she is used to finding herself on. She grabbed the bronze medal against her Canadian opponent in a little over one minute and could secure Austria a medal on day two. Quick and great work from the -70 kg!
A crowd pleaser and a real sportsman Krisztian Toth won another medal on the IJF World Tour. He secured the bronze medal and therefore also his 20th medal on the circuit. An amazing collection of medals for the 25-year-old and it is only getting better from here. Toth looks sharp for the upcoming World Championships at the end of August.
Also, Miklos Cirjenics took out some strong guys in -100 on his competition day but he had to settle for a 5th place. But a good and promising performance from the Hungarian!
The next event for the seniors will be the highlight of the year as the World Championships will take place in Tokyo and will function as a test event one year out from the Olympic Games. We are very excited for our athletes to fight in Japan and expect to see many great performances from all of them!
