News
Home » Judo news
The latest Judo News offered by JudoInside.com
European Judo Championships Preview U70kg: new generation will take it
19 Apr 2017 10:05

None of the top eight U70kg of the Olympic Games in Rio will appear at the European Championships in Warsaw. That leaves space for a new generation. In this case, a new generation of juniors. They have all taken medals, but it is Marie Eve Gahie who has one of the best transitions to the senior division. The French champion claimed silver at the Grand Prix in Düsseldorf in 2017. At the draw, she is the highest seed in Warsaw.
Gahie won the Grand Slam of Abu Dhabi in 2016. She became World U18 Champion in 2013. Since then she has made a remarkable conversion to the senior level with victories in Samsun, Almaty, and Abu Dhabi.
Barbara Matic is the double Junior World Champion from Croatia, but for her it has been a bumpy road in the seniors. With World Tour victories in Tbilisi, Qingdao, and Zagreb, she still seems short of the absolute breakthrough. She won bronze in Baku this year. At European level she won bronze in 2014, but due to the competition she wasn’t successful at Europeans. This is a new year, however, and she might rise to the occasion.
So might the Slovenian, Anka Pogacnik, the number three seed. She won the Grand Prix in Antalya and the African Open in Tunis in 2017. Her name is a familiar one since her silver at the European U23 Championships in 2011. Later she won the European Open in Sofia in 2016 at U70kg. She also took a bronze medal at the Grand Prix in Zagreb and a silver at the Grand Prix in Tashkent, both in 2016. Now she seems ready to take another competitive step upward.
Szabina Gercsák of Hungary is the only competitor in this field who won a European medal last year. With bronze she bested world number one Kim Polling (still injured) which proved her major breakthrough. We know Gercsák from her amazing youth performances with a Youth Olympic title, World titles, and European titles. She can throw anyone when the wind is blowing from the right corner. With a little luck and a little magic she can do it in this field.
The same for Dutch woman Sanne van Dijke, who has a career comparable to Gercsák. She is also moving up now to the senior division.
Still, we cannot forget former World bronze medallist Katarzyna Klys, who wants to shine for her home crowd as captain of the women’s team. If you play our game, then don;t forget German outsider Szaundra Diedrich, she can surprise the best.
GAHIE Marie eve (FRA) 1. seed (4. place WRL)
MATIC Barbara (CRO) 2. seed (9. place WRL)
POGACNIK Anka (SLO) 3. seed (10. place WRL)
GERCSAK Szabina (HUN) 4. seed (15. place WRL)
VAN DIJKE Sanne (NED) 5. seed (19. place WRL)
SAMARDZIC Aleksandra (BIH) 6. seed (23. place WRL)
KLYS Katarzyna (POL) 7. seed (26. place WRL)
BERNHOLM Anna (SWE) 8. seed (29. place WRL)
Related judoka and events
Related Judo Photos
Related Judo Videos
Related Judo News

Margaux Pinot is on golden form again
The U70kg category is one of those weight divisions in which some countries will have a difficult choice to make. At the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv both France and Netherlands reached the final block. Read more

Lots of Olympic medal candidates U70kg
The Doha IJF Judo Masters has been more than the starting gun of the judo season, because the previous analyses are over. There they fought and we saw those who were above the rest, who surprised and who disappointed. With Tel Aviv as the next stop and Tokyo in the final spotlight, Doha was a first chapter of how things are in the world of professionals. The situation U70kg is interesting enough to zoom in. Read more

Sagi Muki concludes successful 2019 as top earner
The IJF will continue its end-of-year tradition of awarding a prize money bonus to all 14 world number ones on the final IJF World Ranking List for 2019. The bonus, which was first introduced in 2016, will see the world number one’s in each of the 14 weight categories scoop a bonus of $10,000 per judoka. Read more

French women lead the last World Ranking of 2019
Looking at the World Ranking, this year wasn’t so different than 2018. Especially in the women’s division some of the same leaders top the IJF World Ranking. Not surprisingly World Champions Daria Bilodid and Clarisse Agbegnenou who retained title in Tokyo reign in their categories. Read more

Kim Polling captures fourth Masters title
Dutch woman Kim Polling was at her explosive best as she defeated Abu Dhabi Grand Slam silver medallist Sanne Van Dijke (NED) to win the -70kg final. World number 12 Polling beat world number three Van Dijke by two scores without reply to maintain her rich vein of form at the end of 2019 after gracing three finals in a row on the IJF circuit. Read more
17
days
Judo birthday

Twan De Ruiter (NED)
15 years
Result | City | Date |
---|---|---|
7 | Paris | 2020 |
1 | Tel Aviv | 2020 |
5 | Abu Dhabi | 2019 |
3 | Tokyo | 2019 |
7 | Ekaterinburg | 2019 |
Result | City | Date |
---|---|---|
3 | Paris | 2020 |
3 | Brasilia | 2019 |
1 | Zagreb | 2019 |
1 | Budapest | 2019 |
7 | Hohhot | 2019 |