French dominate at Continental Open in Madrid

The Continental Open in Madrid has a history of almost 20 years. Some of the top athletes have won a gold medal in the Spanish capital such as Ole Bischof, Lucie Decosse and Brazilians Rafaela Silva and Sarah Menedez. Last weekend the Continental Open was held again and gave space to the talents of Europe mixed with a generation that is trying to gain some valuable points for the Olympic qualification or… some trust to get to this level. France dominated the event with 5 gold medals and 18 medals, followed by Italy, Spain and Germany with each two titles.

The U60kg category witnessed intense competition where France's Theo Raoul Hebrard emerged as the champion. He defeated Italy's Andrea Carlino in the final. In the U66kg category, the crowd was treated to a Spanish winner: Adrian Nieto Chinarro of Spain claimed the top spot, executing  a victory over Italy's Mattia Miceli secured the second position. It was an Italian podium, as also Luca Caggiano and Biagio D'Angelo, both from Italy, took bronze.

Italy did catch the gold U73kg. Edoardo Mella of Italy proved to be unstoppable, securing the gold medal with his exceptional day in Madrid, taking the victory over France's Orlando Cazorla.

On Sunday Joao Fernando of Portugal emerged against Alfonso Urquiza of Spain in the final and can compete in Mongolia with good confidence.

Teo L'Herbier of France emerged as the champion U90kg against Dutchman Axel Heeren whp secured an outstanding silver medal. The bronze was shared by Thomas Scharfetter of Austria who once again showed his connection with the top and Daniel Nieto of Spain.

He didn’t forget how to catch a gold medal, former top athlete still has it. Alexandre Iddir of France (32) dominated the field, securing the gold medal with his powerful techniques and strong presence on the mat. Iddir was by far the oldest winner of the field. Cedric Olivar of France took the silver and another coming man from France took bronze,. Marc Francois Ngayap of France shared the third-place position with Diogo Brites of Portugal.

The heavyweight title went to Marvin Belz of Germany which is quite a surprise. He defeated Mohammed Lahboub of Morocco in the final. It was the first World Cup medal ever for Belz.

In the women’s division France started well with gold for lightweight Marine Gilly against youngster Raquel Brito from Portugal who comes closer each event. Melanie Vieu of France took bronze and Dutch former Junior World Champ Amber Gersjes had to give everything to take back a bronze medal and some renewed confidence.

In the U52kg category 18 year old Giulia Carnà of Italy prevailed against Soumiya Iraoui from Morocco who is in shape for more medals. Carna is the second youngest winner ever in Madrid. Annika Wuerfel of Germany and Naomi Van Krevel from the Netherlands shared the third-place position.

Another Spanish gold medal for Jaione Equisoain (29) who captured the highest stage on the podium U57kg after her final against Lou Lemire of France. The crowd saw a comeback of Chelsie Giles of Great Britain with bronze. She is preparing for the Masters in Budapest soon in Hungary where a big amount of qualification can be collected.

Agatha Schmidt of Germany emerged as the champion U63kg against Rania Drid of France.

U70kg it was an all Dutch final between Margit De Voogd and Jorien Visser who know each-other so well, they are good friends, train daily and warm-up. De Voogd prevailed this time as last two encounters were won by Visser in Sarajevo and Warsaw.

The U78kg category witnessed intense battles between France and Germany and Oceane Zatchi Bi (21) claimed the gold whereas Teresa Zenker from Germany took silver. Julie Hoelterhoff (GER) took bronze together with Irene Caleo from Italy. Austria’s Maria Hoellwart of Austria was getting on form in Linz recently but this time got the gold medal after she defeated Lucie Dupin from France Valentine Marchand of France and Carmen Dijkstra from the Netherlands shared bronze.