Aliaksandr Vakhaviak spoils Estonian home victory in Tallinn

Estonian judoka Juhan Mettis was the favourite to take the gold in his category +100kg at the European Open in Tallinn but had to be satisfied with silver in the last match of the event. In the final Aliaksandr Vakhaviak of Belarus snatched the gold medal after three minutes by ippon after a mistake of Mettis. The Estonian won the African Open and booked good results at Pan American Opens in March. But just like in 2014 he finished with silver.

After two lost finals this weekend for Belarus Vakhaviak secured the gold after taking over a risky outbalanced move by Mettis.

The day started with a gold medal for Hungary. Attila Ungvari won in a field of 26 judoka and defeated all four opponents. He needed five minutes in the semi final against Aleksey Nefedov but in the final against former World Junior Champion Rafael Macedo of Brazil he convinced by ippon after 3.38min. Brazil sent their best neo seniors to Tallinn and won gold in the category U90kg by Gustavo Assis. 21-year old Assis overcame Samuli Viitanen of Finland in the final and booked his fourth victory, and needed five minutes in all fights. Finland booked its second medal this weekend, for the first time since 2008 when the Finnish won three medals.

Italian heavyweight Giuliano Loporchio won the gold medal U100kg. Loporchio took bronze at the European Open in Prague but this was his first international victory. In 2013 he had won silver at the European Open in Glasgow. In Sunday’s final the Italian defeated Viktar Larchanka of Belarus. Austrian Laurin Boehler booked a useful bronze medal as well as Swedish Emil Mattsson, both 21 years.

In the women’s division Sweden also booked gold as Anna Bernholm seemed to have found a good weight category U70kg. She competed U63kg practically her whole life, but switched in July with a fifth place at the Grand Slam in Tyumen. At lower level at the European Open in Tallinn she was able to capture the gold medal. Bernholm had a tough opponent in Jemima Yeats-Brown (GBR) who recently also switched to U70kg, but Bernholm won her third match by ippon as well and needed just 1:45min against Yeats-Brown. Denmark won its first medal at a European Open/World Cup since 2002. Emilie Sook took legendary bronze for her country. Karolina Talach (POL) won the second bronze.

Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kalanina won the gold +78kg against Marina Slutskaya. The tall judoka was a super talent in the cadets and won the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Trabzon in 2011 and various European medals and won silver at the World Cadet Championships in 2011 and bronze in 2015 bronze at the World Juniors. Now she finally captured her first Senior World Cup and includinhg the Ukraine there were twelve winning nations in Tallinn.