Skopje debutes in the Junior European Tour

Twenty-nine nations arrived in one of Europe’s newest countries, North Macedonia, for their first ever European Cup. The junior event, held in the capital, Skopje, was organised with pinpoint perfection, the hosts keen to ensure they put themselves in a good position to host further events in the future.

Several big names on the junior tour were present, including junior world medallist Jack Yonezuka of USA, Dardan Cena (KOS), who is now also present on the senior World Judo Tour, and a very strong Serbian team.

Jack Yonezuka (USA) won gold in Skopje to climb to the top of the world ranking for juniors. 

There were also several faces from among the coaches for the World Judo Tour, including Joao Neto of Portugal and Viktor Carlsson (SWE).

In order to keep all areas working at the highest possible level, Annamaria Fridrich, Olympic referee, was present with the EJU Referee Commission, Sinisa Veir was overseeing the competition management and IT, while Sergiu Oleinic managed the operational side of things with an experienced EJU team.

All in all North Macedonia can be satisfied that they did everything they could to make all visitors feel at home. Volunteers worked all hours to ensure no detail was left to chance. With such smooth organisation, all athletes were able to concentrate on the job in hand, doing their best judo on their big day.

At the end of the competition Serbia topped the medal table, followed by Turkiye, USA, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. It is likely many of those competing in Skopje will make their next appearances at the fast-approaching European Championships for juniors in the Netherlands next month or perhaps even at the 2023 World Championships for juniors being hosted by Portugal in October.

Checkout the full results and medal table led by Serbia.