The first competition day at the European Judo Cup East Sarajevo 2023, which began today in the “Peki” sports hall, was marked by the gold medal won by Bosnia and Herzegovina representative Anđela Samardžić in the competition up to 57 kilograms.
Samardžić confirmed her good form from the recently concluded World Championship in Doha with today’s performance.
Anđela reached the highest honor thanks to her victory over the German Jana Ziegler, and in the finals she was better than opponents from Italy, the Czech Republic and Belgium.
“It’s hard, actually it’s never easy. However, four victories resulted in the gold medal that I wished for, but I don’t know how realistic I was in my wishes,” Samardžić said after winning the final.
By triumphing in the battle for gold BH national team player defended the title she won last year at the same competition held in Sarajevo in a certain way.
“I’m glad that in this way I confirmed the good form she was working on for the World Championship,” emphasized Samardžić, and added that she will now take a short break before that.
The final block of the first competition day was preceded by the opening ceremony, where the president of the Judo Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ognjen Pavlović, and the mayor of the Municipality of Pale, Boško Jugović, addressed the audience, while the competition was officially opened by Branislav Crnogorac, senior adviser of the Sports Commission of the European Judo Union.
The clean mountain air seemed to favor the judokas from Azerbaijan the most on the first day of the competition.
Ruslan Pashaev dominated in the category up to 66 kilograms, while the clash of his compatriots in the finals of the category up to 73 kilograms went to Ibrahim Alijev.
The German selection won one gold and one silver medal each, as well as two bronze medals. In the category up to 63 kilograms in the women’s competition, Dena Pol was better than compatriot Viktoria Folger.
The Slovenian Anja Stanger celebrated in the category up to 52 kilograms, while the Hungarian Rebeka Rita Kosegi triumphed in the competition up to 48 kilograms.
The competition at the European Judo Cup for seniors in East Sarajevo continues on Sunday, and the preliminary fights start at 9 am.
On the second day of the competition, female judokas will compete in the -70kg, -78kg and +78kg categories, and judokas in the -81kg, -90kg, -100kg and +100kg categories.
