Two Bronze Medals for Slovenia

Avtor:
Datum: 22. 05. 2002
On Photo: The Italian Laura Maddaloni (left) and Slovenian Petra Nareks at the European Judo Championships on 16 May in Maribor.

Judo has been a recognised and widespread sport in Slovenia for half a century and has quickly taken root and attracted a large and active following. This year, the Judo Association of Slovenia is celebrating its 50th anniversary. For the first time in its history, Slovenia hosted such a distinguished sports event as the European Judo Championships. This year’s 51st European Championship took place in Maribor’s Tabor Hall from 16 to 19 May and covered both individual and team championships. Namely, the European Judo Union organised a combined championship for individuals and teams for the first time in Maribor since, prior to that, the two Championships had been separate. While the last medal for Slovenia at the European Championship was won 33 years ago by Stanko Topolčnik (in the category -63 kg), this time it was the girls who started the revival of Slovenian judo. By winning two Bronze medals for the independent Slovenia, Petra Nareks (category -52 kg) and Raša Sraka (category -70 kg) heralded a new era in Slovenian judo. Moreover, the entire Slovenian women’s team made a good impression at the Championship. Mainly due to methodical work with younger generations and expert support in later years, Slovenian judo has nothing to fear in the future. Celje’s Sankaku club and Ljubljana’s JK Bežigrad take care of and successfully carry out the work necessary for training good judoists. In the men’s competition however, things are changing somewhat more slowly. The best Slovenian male judoist was Damjan Petek, who finished 7th, while the Slovenian men’s team finished 9th (the women finished 5th). The best Slovenian men and women judoists will again compete at the National Championship on 2 June and, after a short break, will start preparations for the next season when the 2003 World Championship is to take place in Osaka, Japan. A year later, the world’s best judoists will again meet at the Olympic Games in Athens.

French and Georgia Teams Excel
The first day of the Championship (16 May) brought final results in six categories. In the women’s category -52 kg, the new European Champion became Georgia Singleton from Britain. The new woman champion in the 'Open' category is Katja Gerber from Germany, while the title in the same category for men went to Dennis Van Der Geest from Holland. The winner in the women’s category -48 kg is Frederique Jossinet from France. The best competitor in the men’s category -60 kg is Yacine Douma from France while, in one category higher, the title went to Miklos Ungvari from Hungary. On the second day of the European Championship, the new champions among men became: Anatolij Larjukov (Byelorussia; -73 kg), Irakli Uznadze (Turkey; -81 kg) and Valentin Grekov (Russia; -90 kg) whereas, among women, titles went to Cinzia Cavazzuti (Italy; -57 kg) and Lucie Decosse (France; -63 kg). On the third day, the European Champion in the category +100 kg became Tamerlan Tmenov from Russia, while in the category -100 kg the winner was Elko Van Der Geest from Holland. In the women’s category -70 kg, the winner was Adriana Dadci from Poland, and in the category -78 kg the title went to Celine Lebrun from France. The new European woman champion in the category +78 kg is Sandra Koeppen from Germany.
On the last day of the 51st European Championship in Judo (19 May), team competitions were organised in Maribor’s Tabor Hall, including 15 of the best men’s teams and 10 women’s teams. The French women’s team and the men’s team from Georgia emerged as new European Champions.