Translated material
Judo in spring
Of course, the timing of the competition also influenced the perception - the traditionally winter Moscow tournament this year changed its dates and became a spring one. The decision to move the Russian stage from January to April was made by the leadership of the European Judo Union (EJU) back in 2004, but we were able to feel how positive this decision was for Russia last weekend. More than four hundred athletes from 41 countries decided to test their strength in Moscow before the upcoming continental championship. The head of the European Judo Union, Marius Wieser, also arrived in the Russian capital. Together with the head of the Russian Judo Federation and the National Judo Union, Minister of Agriculture Alexei Gordeev, he opened the Super Cup in Moscow. During the ceremony, Vizer presented Gordeev with the EJU gold medal for his great contribution to the development of judo. Everyone knows that Russia actively supports the new policy of the European Union, the most active of the world associations, and, according to the Russian leader, it intends to continue to follow this course.
The Russians, represented at the Super Cup by the maximum number, became the winners of the team competition in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Fourteen awards: five gold, four silver and five bronze - a record. In second place with 10 medals (4--1--5) are the French - the recognized leaders of European judo. In third place in terms of quality (2--0--1) is the Hungarian team, and in terms of quantity is the German team (0--3--5).
Having won the Moscow “gold”, recognized judo masters confirmed their class - three-time world champion Alexander Mikhailin (+100) and medalist of the Athens Games Thea Donguzashvili (+78). Even before the start of the tournament, Moskvich declared his intention to achieve the highest honor at home. And he achieved it. In the preliminary part, Sasha beat the Ukrainian, defeated the Belarusian by ippon, and won the Georgian with a score of 10:0 in the quarterfinals. But the semi-final made the fans of our most titled judoka nervous. The young and ambitious Hungarian Bor, who had recently competed at the junior level, put up serious resistance to the tournament host. But Mikhailin would not have been a champion if he had not found a gap in Bor’s defense. The throw, a high score and a well-deserved victory in the semi-finals goes to Alexander.
Watching the Ukrainian Sotnikov confidently defeat the absolute European champion Frenchman Bataille in the other semi-final, the spectators who filled the Izmailovo hall were anticipating a worthy and bright finale. However, it was not destined to happen: the Ukrainian injured his shoulder and therefore did not make it to the final fight. Without a fight, Mikhailin won the final.
The winners of the tournament Ivan Pershin (90 kg), Salamu Mezhidov (73) and Askhab Kostoev (100), silver medalists of the Super Cup Dmitry Ogienko (73), Lyudmila pleased the audience with a bright fight and strengthened their positions in the world rankings and, of course, in the national team Bogdanova (52), Lyubov Belskaya (63) and Vera Moskaluk (78) and bronze medal winners Magomed Jafarov and Vitaly Verkhoturov (both 66), Viktor Semenov (90), Alexey Ledenev (100) and Anna Kharitonova (52).
In the overall joyful impression of such an even performance by the team and the unconditional first place in the team, the men have one more positive moment: the team now has a long-awaited bench, a reserve, talented young people who are already confidently performing on the adult mat today and do not give in to the experienced and titled ones. The team's immediate plans include training and preparatory camps for the European Championships in May. Well, in the promising ones - work on future Olympic victories.