On the first day of competition, Mascha Ballhaus, only 17 years old, could beat German teammate Mira Ulrich to take bronze in the -48 kg category and with that, her first ever medal at a senior event. The -48 kg category was a highly competitive field and Ballhaus could stand on the podium alongside with Ukrainian wonderkid Daria Bilodid who just returned to competition by winning the gold medal.
In the -52 kg category, Hungarian Emoke Knetig could also celebrate a bronze medal - Her fourth medal in the senior European Cup serie. In this weight division Seija Ballhaus (Germany) narrowly missed out on following her sister Mascha to take her first senior European Cup medal and ended with a 5th place.
Another bronze medal went to Pavel Petrikov from Czech Republic, who could climb to podium in the -66 kg category.
On the second day of competition, team Croatia had something to celebrate, as heavyweights Maranic and Kumric made their way to the podium.
Ivana Maranic had an impressive performance throughout the day and claimed the gold medal in the +78 kg category after winning all of her contests by Ippon. Fellow teammate Marko Kumric, picked up a bronze medal in the +100 kg category - His third senior European Cup medal.
Also the Hungarian team added two more medals as Benedek Toth and Robert Rajkai collected respectively a silver and a bronze medal, both in the -81 kg category. For Rajkai it was his first medal in a senior European Cup, while silver medalist Toth already picked up one medal in the senior division. A good performance from the two youngsters, who are both still in the Junior division.
In the -90 kg category, Hungary had another chance for a medal, as Ferenc Toth made it to the bronze medal match - Unfortunately he had to settle for a 5th place.
A competitive weekend has come to an end but we do have another exciting weekend ahead of us, as the European Championships for cadets will take place from 28th June to 1st July in Bosnia and Herzegovina.