Amazing judo at European U23 Championships in Bratislava

A great surprise win today by Anthony Zingg, a historic victory for Amy Livesey and a smashing point by number one Lappinagov and dominance by Hungarian Szabina Gercsak is about the story of today at the European U23 Championships in Bratislava.

Amy Livesey is the first British woman to capture the European U23 title. Livesey defeated Croatian Maja Blagojevic in the final U63kg. For Great Britain only Craig Fallon (2004) and Ashley McKenzie  (2010) were able to take the title. Livesey never won a European medal, but was in a good shape. This year she took the victory at the European Cup in London. At the Euro Open she won silver. Livesey competes internationally since 2009 and won a medal at the EYOF in Tampere. On Saturday Livesey became the winner of a pool with Nadja Bazynski (GER) who was defeated in the quarter final. Also Number one seed Daniela Kazanoi (BLR) was beaten by wazari. Maja Blagojevic was behind with a wazaari after two minutes and received another yuko and Livesey didn’t give away the historic opportunity.

German Anthony Zingg is the new European Champion U73kg. Zingg was quite a surprise, not seeded and since his silver medal at the European Junior Championships in 2013 he had shown himself just bits with 7^th place at the GP Dusseldorf, victory in Sindelfingen last year and medals in Vise and in Malaga in October. That medal may have been a good motivation. Today in Bratislava Zingg was able to win his five matches including the final against 2013 World Junior Champion Antonio Esposito (ITA) who defended his title of last year. Zingg was done with the Italian within 40 seconds by a superb strangle. Except for his first match against Dmitrijs Fedoseenkovs (LAT) Zingg won all his matches by ippon. Hiayet Heydarov (AZE) and Artem Khomula won the bronze. Earlier Khomula lost to Heydarov and Heydarov had lost to Esposito in the semi final.

Szabina Gercsak took the victory in the women’s U63kg weight class. The Hungarian was the 13^th winner for Hungary of the European U23 title but together the Hungarians won 22 titles, and 11 for the women. Gercsak is having a super year with the European Junior title followed by the World title. So she was the expected but not the number one seed. It was Aleksandra Samardzic of Bosnia Herzegovina who had the best spot and indeed reached the semi final despite a tough pool. Gercsak had beaten Miriam Butkereit (GER) and Renalda Gedutyte (LTU) in the pool and Carola Paissoni of Italy followed to reach the final. Samardzic defeated German Lea Pueschel.

Gercsak led the final after two minutes by a take over by yuko and it gave her more control over the match. Fourty seconds for the end she scored another yuko, which was enough for the victory. Gercsak is the successor of Dutch Sanne van Dijke. Urszula Hofman (POL) and Lea Pueschel won the bronze medal.

Aslan Lappinagov kept the best for last. In the final U81kg the number one seed launched a tremendous throw against Bulgarian strong man Ivaylo Ivanov, the winner of the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi. That says enough how strong this category U81kg is developing in this transition age. Lappinagov was the favourite but also Ivanov was well in shape and showed some good style of judo. Lappinagov hadn’t shown too much ashi waza, but in the final he needed just 90 seconds to overthink his action which exploded in gold and satisfaction for each judo fan. Lappinagov is the successor of Greek Roman Moustopoulos.

In this competitive category the Russian defeated Shalva Kalabegashvili (ESP) in the golden score, then Marko Bubanja of Austria in five minutes. Jaba Bitsadze (GEO) was put aside after four minutes and Nicon Zabororsciuc (MDA), who also impressed today had a full scoreboard against him after four minutes. Croatian Dominik Druzeta destroyed Nicon Zaborosciuc (MDA) by a unbelievable throw taking the bronze. Lappinagov was the only number one seed who won his category.