Larisa Ceric fit to defend title at the European Cup in Sarajevo

This weekend the second European Cup of the season will be held in Sarajevo in Bosnia Herzegovina. Topscorer and flagship judoka of Bosnia is without a doubt Larisa Ceric who will be the trailblazer for her country this weekend. “I will do my best to win this weekend for the sixth time.” She knows the stats of per performances.

She won the European Cup in Sarajevo five times. But Bosnia can be proud of its youth and also Aleksandra Samardžić won twice in her career. Among the athletes who won twice in Sarajevo also double World Champion Majlinda Kelmendi (KOS) and current World Champion Tina Trstenjak.

Slovenia is the most successful nation anyway in the history  of the tournament which is held since the mid zeros, but officially a European Cup since 2008. The Slovenian athletes booked 16 victories, followed by Russia with 15 wins. The most efficient nation is Great Britain with 19 finals and 12 wins.

Last year France was the strongest nation with six wins including top fighter Amandine Buchard who is still trying to get some traction in her category U52kg.

The highest ranked Bosnian fighters are  Ceric (21) and Samardzic (60). Ceric: “I was a bit unlucky and I couldn’t compete at the Grand Slam against the later winner Megumi Tachimoto due to an broken finger in the warming up one day before the tournament in Paris.” Sarajevo is her first competition to show her best skills. Ceric is still among the qualified women in this stage, but on the edge of qualification. Ceric: “This is a warm up because I will go to the Grand Prix of Tbilisi and Samsun.”