Greece books a unique medal at Cadet European Cup in Bucharest

At the second day of the Cadet European Cup in Bucharest there were seven winning nations, the only country that captured two titles was Turkey. Looking at the performance from a historic perspective it is not surprising as Turkey always brings a lot of new talent, especially in the lighter weight categories. Today it was a bit different in Bucharest as the gold medals were achieved in the heavier weights for men whereas the Turkish lightweight girls are usually the ones picking up the medals.

Gurgen Erman was the man in the category U73kg. Erman defeated Mihajlo Simin (SRB) for the gold and saw two Azeri Suleyman Aliyev and Ali Hajizada on the podium, taking bronze.

Turkish heavyweight Ergin Recep (TUR) won his final against Petre Bogdan of host nations Romania. Ibrahim Tataroglu and Darius Georgescu (ROU) claimed the bronze medals. It was the second victory for Turkey on Sunday and the fourth in total which meant the victory in the medal table among the 25 countries.

Ukraine judoka Igor Tsurkan is in a bloody good shape and won his third European Cup of the season. Zagreb, Teplice and now Bucharest are the cities where he won. Another proud moment for Ukraine. Armenian athlete Gor Karapetyan bagged the silver. Vidak Maljevic (BIH) and Ghenadi Chyzhevskyi (MDA) secured the bronze.

Serbian Milan Bulaja was the strongest today U90kg. In the final he bested Peter Kenderesi (HUN) and they were accompanied on the podium by Mevlut Oztas (TUR) and Nikita Yudanov (UKR).

In the girls division Azerbaijan proved to be strong with Fidan Alizada who won the gold medal against Inez Bognar of Hungary. This time gold for Alizaada who took bronze in Fuengirola and finished fifth in Strassbourg two weeks ago. Marina Azinou (CYP) and Jana Cvjetko (CRO) took bronze U57kg.

One weight higher U63kg it was Alexandra Papagiannaki (GRE) who claimed the gold medal against Adriana Torres (POR). It was the first Greek victory in three years in any European Cup for cadets. Papagiannaki is the first girl of Greece who ever won a gold medal, a unique performance and hope for the future. It was even the first victory since 2009 outside Greece. Eloise Le Roux (FRA) and Yuliia Kuzmenko (UKR) took the bronze medals in this category.

Finally it was host Romanian that could cheer for the gold medal for Alexia Usurelu (ROU) in her category U70kg. Usurelu defeated Ecem Baysug (TUR) and saw Sofija Pajic (BIH) and Valeria Usanova (EST) coming third. It was the first Cadet European Cup victory ever in this category U70kg. The statistics says enough that the Romanians traditionally have better female lightweights.

The heavyweight category +70kg was won by Croatia’s Marcelina Vranjes after she defeated Jovana Stjepanovic (SRB). Elif Baskut (TUR) and Lana Lubura (BIH) took a bronze medal.