Ivaylo Ivanov sets cold Samokov on fire with gold U81kg

What a spectacular end of the second day of the European Championships. Host nation Bulgarian could dream about the gold, but now physically cherish and touch it as Ivaylo Ivanov was the winner of his category U81.

The most thrilling final went to host nation Bulgaria. Ivaylo Ivanov who was heavily supported in his final against Khasan Khalmurzaev. Although he kept calm in the heat of the game and despite his reputation, he couldn’t score against Ivanov who kept more grip on the Russian top talent.

In 2011 Bulgaria won a gold medal (Yanislav Gerchev) and the crowd was already celebrating the final place, but Khalmurzaev was the clear favourite in advance. Khasan Khalmurzaev is a natural talent and won the Russian title and European Cups of Orenburg and Pod\u010detrtek before he won the Grand Prix of Almaty in September. The Khalmurzaev brothers are brought to the top and their performances are amazing. But Ivanov cherished his final place and wanted to finish the day with gold at home in Samokov. With his stable grip he kept the full attention of the crowd and after three and-a-half minute the impossible became possible. With a great sutemi, Ivanov threw Khalmurzaev for ippon and there was no referee who came in between that decision, giving the crowd the ultimate reward for their support. What a surprising victory for Bulgaria that won bronze at the first day by Ivelina Ilieva U57kg.

The last match of day two was the most exciting for the home crowd and it delivered the fireworks as announced in advance of the tournament. The supporters could cheer four time for Ivanov today for his victories against Grygorenko of the Ukraine, Riou (FRA), Schol (NED) and Khalmurzaev (RUS).

Andranik Chaparyan of Armenia defeated Melvin Schol (NED) in the bronze medal match with an excellent ippon after 92 seconds. Chaparyan follows the tradition of Artyom Baghdasaryan who won silver and bronze in this category U81kg in 2011 and 2012, so this is the third consecutive medal for the small nation Armenia. The first European U23 Championships were held in Armenia with seven gold medals for the home nation. After a gap of 7 years the train rides again.

The second bronze was for Hanne Conrad. The German senior Champion led his last match by waza-ari against Daniel Gonzalez Cava and was never in danger against the Spaniard.

Conrad was surprised in his second match against Schol but defeated two Spaniards and French Riou to take the bronze to Germany. Last year Conrad was close to a medal finishing fifth in Prague, in Samokov he won his second European medal. In 2010 he won bronze in the junior category (U73kg).

Romania kept the lead in the medal table because of the victory of Ivaylo Ivanov and it resulted in eight different nations winning a gold medal, a unique distribution after two days of fighting. Russia is the most successful nation though in terms of medals, the Russian team won seven medals followed by a successful Italian team with four medals, although both Regis and Bruno were close to the gold.