Olympic fights

The European Youth Championship has ended

The number “seven” for the second time this month became lucky for Russian judoists - in early November, the St. Petersburg club “Yavara-Neva” became the seven-time European champion, and in the middle, seven domestic athletes achieved awards at the European Youth Championship in Bosnia.

Denis Lavrentiev (66 kg), representing Chelyabinsk and Kurgan, and Murat Khabachirov (81 kg) from Nalchik became European champions in Sarajevo. “Silver” went to Robert Mshvidobadze (60) from Saransk, Azamat Sitimov (90) from Labinsk and Anna Shcherbakova (63) from Ulan-Ude, and “bronze” went to Chelyabinsk residents Denis Yartsev (73) and Renat Saidov (over 100) . With seven medals, the Russians came second in the team competition after the Germans (4--2--1).

The main city of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo, remembered more as the center of the military conflict of the war in Yugoslavia in the 90s of the last century, rather than as the capital of the 1984 Olympic Winter Games, hosted judo youth from forty countries of the Old World on November 19-22 at the eighth European Championship among athletes under 23 years old. The history of holding continental youth competitions is small, but over the course of several years the prestige and representativeness of these tournaments have clearly grown: from 10 countries in 2003 in Yerevan to 40 countries in 2010 in Sarajevo. This is explained, on the one hand, by the unconditional need for competitions in the transition from juniors to adults, and on the other hand, by the practical interest of specialists in promising young people who are capable of joining the ranks of applicants even for Olympic awards today.

Many of the championship participants, including Russians, are indeed contenders for places in the London 2012 teams - they very successfully participated in rating tournaments qualifying for future Games in Great Britain. So Mshvidobadze, Lavrentiev and Sitimov won the World Cup in Minsk, and Khabachirov and Saidov won a similar tournament in Alma-Ata. The guys have been training with the main team for a long time and spend 300 days a year at training camps. The location of the championship in Sarajevo was also symbolic - tatami were laid out in the hall of the Juan Antonio Samaranch Olympic Sports Complex, which definitely stimulates light Olympic associations. The result shown by our team in Bosnia and the style - bright and convincing, in which domestic judokas won victories - add optimism.

Denis Lavrentyev (66 kg) put the first “gold” into the general treasury. Having beaten the Bosnian, the Ukrainian, the bright, shooting Pole Kowalski - vice-champion of the “adult” Europe 2009, Denis reached the semi-finals against the Moldovan Skvortov. The meeting was replete with shooting attempts, but did not indulge in scores. And although the Russian clearly dominated at times, only one criticism fell on his opponent. The fight went into the extra period, where in the first minute Lavrentiev managed to gain an advantage and did it beautifully with an amplitude throw. "Man!!" - came from the stands. When Denis won the Slovenian Jereb just as convincingly and skillfully in the final, all the Russians who were rooting for him, sitting in the stands, raised their hands in victory along with him, because, having won the “gold,” Lavrentiev became the first Russian champion of the continent in this weight during the European U23 Championships.

“I prepared for the tournament in Sarajevo purposefully - I wanted to finish my performance in the youth team beautifully, with gold,” said the champion. - My coaches and I studied all the potential opponents, tuned in to each one, so I managed to tactically win against both an experienced Pole and a very physically strong Moldovan - it was the most difficult with him. I’ve been on the team for three years now, recently I’ve been competing in the 66 kg category and, like any athlete, I dream of Olympic gold. We have strong competition in the weight class - to become the best, you have to work hard.”

And if Lavrentyev is just trying his hand at tournaments among adults, then the second Russian European champion Murat Khabachirov (81 kg) from Nalchik, at the age of 22, has already managed to score a medal at the recent World Team Championship in Antalya. As a member of the Russian men's team, he became the bronze medalist of the tournament, making a significant contribution to the overall victory. On the tatami in Sarajevo, Khabachirov truly shone. Honed technique and a rich arsenal of throws helped the Kabardian win quick and convincing victories. The Austrian and the Estonian were quickly passed, but the Frenchman Joubert had to tinker in the quarterfinals - rivals worthy of each other attacked as fiercely as they defended stubbornly. The main time did not bring scores, and in the extra period Murat once again showed his excellent technical preparedness - from the lightning-fast movement, as if from a suddenly exploding bomb, the Frenchman did not have time to defend himself and fell on his entire back. Twice European champion among juniors and youth, Slovenian Sedezh, fell as if knocked down by Khabachirov's throw in the semi-finals. The real highlight of the day was the final between the Russian and the Hungarian Krizan, which ended in less than a minute - the classic front step was so fast and clear that the Hungarian, spinning in the air, did not believe that he had reached the tatami. Brilliant technique, worthy victory.

After the award ceremony, his personal coach Yemkuzhev and the coach of the Russian national team, Italian Gamba, took a photo with the modest, smiling champion. “Two years ago I already competed at the youth championship, but I performed unsuccessfully - I lost disappointingly,” said Khabachirov. - In 2009, Sirazhudin Magomedov won gold for Russia, but this time Ezio nominated me, and I’m glad that I managed to realize my success. I have been doing judo since I was seven and still find it the most interesting activity. For me, the medal is not only an indicative result of my work, but also an incentive for further growth.”

Last year's silver medalist of the European Championship among athletes under 23, Robert Mshvidobadze (60 kg), was just short of gold - he lost to Briton Mackenzie in the final. Another member of the Russian team, Azamat Sitimov (90), confidently advanced to the final, surprising the audience with his most amplitude throws. Calm and thorough, he seemed to be on the hunt, and when the right moment came, Azamat “shot” with a throw over his back from the stance - fast, beautiful and effective. However, in the main match with the German Hildebrant, the Russian, while attacking, fell for a counter-attack and, being pinned, lost the “gold”.

The only award - silver - was brought to the beautiful half of the Russian team by Anna Shcherbakova (63 kg). Shcherbakova, who switched to judo from powerlifting, demonstrated excellent strength training on the tatami in Sarajevo - she confidently lifted her opponents into the air and dropped them onto the tatami. For women's judo, such grabs and flips are rare, and therefore they were especially noted by the audience with applause. In the final against the Italian Gwend, the Russian missed a subtle technical hold and was unable to recover.

“Of course, I am dissatisfied with the result of my players,” admitted national team coach Viktor Zherdev. - The team was composed of leaders - each of the girls, based on their potential, could and should have won a championship medal. But this did not happen. We have a serious topic for working on mistakes.”

The men's half of our team in Bosnia achieved six medals in seven categories. “In terms of the number of medals, we performed better than last year,” team coach Konstantin Filosofenko commented on the results of the tournament. - But for complete happiness we did not have enough qualitative growth - three “golds” would have provided us with first place in the team competition. Nevertheless, I am pleased with the guys' performance. In competition with really strong opponents, they showed themselves well. The champions, Lavrentiev and Khabachirov, were pleased; the youngest participant in the team, Denis Yartsev, showed high-quality wrestling. No one is going to stop there: there are new training sessions, training camps, tournaments ahead - joint work with the adult team for greater and greater results. We have everything for this: talented athletes, professional coaches and specialists, and the support of the Russian Judo Federation and its partners, including the general one - the Coalco group of companies.

Marina MAYOROVA, Sarajevo-Moscow