Sanne van Dijke debuts with European title U70kg

Dutch Sanne van Dijke is the new European champion in Warsaw for women U70kg. The Dutch woman, who made her debut at the senior European Championships, surprised all with the title and wiped away a more difficult period in her career. Although her bronze medal at the Grand Slam in Paris was a good sign of her status, a European title was more than expected.

Van Dijke (21) who is the 2014 European Junior and U23 Champion predicted in advance that she had a chance if the wind blew the right way, and that was the case. “I didn’t have to lose of anyway in advance, but I beat all of them this time. It’s crazy, European champion. I am super happy. I slept really bad last night, I was nervous, but once I stepped on the tatami, all of that was gone and today I was super efficient.”

Van Dijke defeated 19-old German Giovanna Scoccimarro in the final with a rapid score in a few seconds, but she built out her score and took convincingly took the victory.  Van Dijke: “I looked up to the match against Gahie, but when I defeated her, I knew I would take the gold today, it had to. So now I will continue with my road to Tokyo, so Kim (Polling), bring it on!” she joked with a smile.

It is another success for Holland in this category, where Edith Bosch won her first of four European titles in 2004, followed by the Kim Polling-era, who won the title three times in a row. Van Dijke follows Gevrise Emane (FRA).

Van Dijke defeated Michaela Polleres (AUT) in her first match, well known Szabina Gercsák (HUN), who was her nemesis in juniors and U23 level, and Marie Eve Gahie (FRA) in the semi-final.

For Van Dijke it was also a first huge success with her new coach Michael Bazynski (GER), who has worked for the Dutch team since a few months.

Number one seed Marie-Eve Gahie won the bronze after she bested Katarzyna Klys of Poland, who was awarded for her career, as this was her last match. Barbara Matic of Croatia took the bronze after her victory against Anna Bernholm of Sweden, who was also in good form today.