Plenty of tempting battles at European U23 Championships in Tel Aviv

Equalising the record number of participating nations at U23 European Championships, the draw has been conducted in Tel Aviv, Israel. Since 1992 Israel hadn’t hosted a European Championship and this 14th edition of this U23 Europeans will host 321 athletes, the second best ever in the previous editions.

Only Prague in 2012 had more athletes, and that championship had medallists such as Lukas Krpalek, Tina Trstenjak, Fabio Basile and Majlinda Kelmendi. Can you imagine the impact four years later for the 2020 Games for the winners in Tel Aviv?

Israel will have a strong team with 16 participants but also the Italian squad with 17 judoka. In 2012 not only Basile but also Odette Giuffrida won a medal. Last year’s event in Bratislava delivered the Italians five medals including gold for Basile.

Russia will certainly have a stake in the medal table with 18 athletes and some in seeded positions at the draw. The team just came from Malaga’s OTC and saw at the draw a mouthwatering pool U60kg with Russia’s Sakhavat Gadzhiev, winner in Belgrade as well as European Junior Champion Tornike Tsjakadoea and Denislav Ivanov (BUL).

The Netherlands, Spain and the Ukraine selected 17 athletes, Germany and Hungary both with 15 athletes.

Czech David Klammert will defend his title U90kg, but he is in a pool with German David Tekic while Dario Kurbjeweit, teammate of Tekic topped the seeding order. Also Serbian Milica Nikolic will defend her title and she is in a great shape. The seeding doesn’t say it all, Nikolic is unseeded and she is in the same pool with number one Sabina Giliazova. They met this year at the Grand Slam in Tyumen and Nikolic won.

Also non seeded is last year’s champion Szabina Gercsak of Hungary, but she’s is not in an easy pool.  But on the other side of the table others battles will be fought with Samardzic (BIH) and Yeats-Brown (GBR) looking sharp this year. Mind the first match in pool C between Sara Rodriguez (ESP) and Gabriella Willems (BEL).

A packed Shlomo Group Arena will give a superb atmosphere in Tel Aviv. All the stats, tweets, news and photos will be online in your number seeded judo channel.