Golden Marina Bukreeva enjoys European Championships

Second-seeded Marina Bukreeva (RUS) celebrated the victory in the +70kg over Polish Anita Formela at the Cadet European Championships. Formela collected three shidos in the first two minutes of the final, then Bukreeva received two penalties before she threw her opponent to get a waza-ari. Bukreeva kept Formela down on the mat and the Polish competitor touched out.

“I am very happy, I have worked the past three years towards this victory and finally it happened”, Bukreeva shared. “I came here for the gold, I worked so much for it. The semifinal (against Barbara Cikic, NED) was the toughest contest today, because I had lost to her before. Obviously, you feel a lot of responsibility in the final as well. I never fought her (Formela) before. My coach discussed her with me and we found the right strategy.”                    

Formela was pleased with her silver medal. “It was my first time at the European Championships and I have been practicing judo for ten years”, she said. Her next plans include a competition in Poland.                             

 Formela’s teammate Kamila Pasternak (POL) added the bronze to her medal collection of the European Cadet Championships and now as a complete set when she beat Raz Rozalya Hershko (ISR).                             

The other bronze medal went to Mercedesz Szigetvari (HUN), who defeated Cikic.                           

Top seed Katarina Lucija Vukovic (CRO) lost in the quarterfinal and in the repechage.                       

16 girls competed in the heavyweight.