Cyprus was represented at the Cadet European Cup in Poland this past weekend by 8 athletes.

The competition is another tough one with 350 male and 224 female competitors.

First up was Giorgios Balajiasvili in the -60 Kg category at his first international competition since his unfortunate injury at the Pancyprian championship and subsequent operation.  Giorgios started with an Ippon win against Illia Skaepau from Belarus and then another Ippon against Olaf Loska from Poland.  A third Ippon win against Maxim Baltat from Moldova saw Giorgios in the semi-final against Vladyslav Kazimov from Ukraine.  After a close contest, Giorgos lost by Ippon, but progressed to the third place contest against Kote Kapanadze of Georgia.  Giorgios fought well, but lost by Ippon in the third minute and claimed 5th place over all in the category – an excellent result for his first international competition for many months.

Petros Christodoulides fought in the -50 Kg category and in his first contest beat Yurii Kalinchyk from Ukraine with an Ippon after first going down to a Waza-ari from the Ukrainian.  In his second contest Petros lost to Akos Barczikay from Hungary with an Ippon, but went through to the Repechage where he fought Igor Blaszczak frm Poland beating him on a technical win, but then losing to Emile Merdin from Belgium by Ippon. Petros finished 9th over all in the category.

Christos Georghiou in the -66 Kg came up against Yamato Fukuda from Japan where he fought well, but lost by Ippon in the second minute, unfortunately he did not proceed any further in the tournament.

In the -66 Kg category, Spantios Orthodoxos fought Kevin Abeltshauser from Germany. After a close contest, Spantios lost by Ippon in the third minute – again he did not proceed any further.

Representing Cyprus in the -73 Kg category was Panagiotis Shakos who came up against Matvei Karas from Russia for his first contest.  This lasted the whole 4 minutes, but Panagiotis won with a Waza-ari. In his second contest he came up against Jarne Duyck from Belgium where he lost in the final minute with an Ippon. In the Repechage, Panagioti came up against Akaki Mumladze of Georgia where he lost by Ippon.

Alexey Gladyshev competed in the -90 Kg category where he first came up against Viachasiau Chuyashkov from Belarus.  Alexey scored first with a Waza-ari, but then lost to the athlete from Belarus with an Ippon.

In the -81 Kg category, Ilia Gladushev fought Vuk Bosnjak from Serbia where he beat him in the first minute with an Ippon.  In his second contest he fought Tymur Valieiev from Ukraine, but lost with a Waza-ari and subsequent Ippon.

Representing our women was Zanet Michailidou in the +70 Kg category where she came up against Szilvia Farkas from Hungary who unfortunately overpowered Zanet in the first minute with an Ippon.

The team was accompanied by Christos Christodoulides, Technical Director of the Federation.

All of our athletes from Cyprus fought very well against some very tough competitors and have gained some valuable experience from the competition as well as making us all proud.

Well done to all the atheletes!