This week saw our athletes in Fuengirola, Spain at the Cadet European Cup where 500 athletes took part (297 men and 203 women) from 23 nations.

Representing Cyprus were 4 women, Charis Iordanou, Veronika Kalaitsidou, Maria Livadiotou and Janet Michaelidou and 4 men, Giannis Antoniou, Petros Christodoulides, Odysseas Georgakis and Giorgios Kalaitsidis.

Day 1 saw four of our Judoka competing.

Veronika Kalaitsidou -44Kg

Veronika came up against Carla Mateo Garcia in her first contest, but after receiving 2 Shido’s, Veronika then lost to the Spaniard in the second minute with Ippon.

Veronika was not ranked out of the 22 competitors in her category.

Charis Iordanou -48Kg

Charis came up against the athlete from Spain, Ane Miren Arregi Miguel in her first contest. Whilst both athletes received 2 Shidos, Charis scored a Waza-Ari to take the contest.

In her second contest she fought Sofia Mazzola from Italy. Though Charis fought well, the Italian scored a Waza-Ari and then Ippon in the second minute to take the contest, but as she went through to the third place contest, Charis proceeded to the Repechage.

Her first contest here was against Ema Rodrigues from Portugal who she beat within one minute with Ippon.

This meant she then fought Aline Rosset from Switzerland who had gotten Gold in the Koper Cadet European Cup in 2019. Charis fought very well, but the experience of Rosset showed and she beat Charis with Ippon into the second minute and went on to take Bronze.

NINTH PLACE overall for Charis out of 33 competitors – a very good start to the year for her.

Petros Christodoulides -50Kg

Petros’ first contest was against Sergio Barbe Lopez from Spain. Petros received 2 Shido and the Spaniard 1, but Petro also scored a Waza-Ari to proceed to the next round.

Here he fought Islam Rahimov from Azerbaijan. Rahimov beat Petro in the second minute, holding him down in Osae-Komi for 20 seconds, but there was controversy in the contest. The referee is clearly seen to show MATTE to stop the contest and then he warned the coach from Azerbaijan – something that cannot be done during the contest. For some reason the contest was not stopped, even though matte was shown.  This was very unfair to say the least!

In his first contest of the Repecharge, Petro came up against Emanuele Bivona from Italy. This went the whole four minutes, but Petro won with Waza-Ari.

His next contest was against Dayyan of France were Petro took only 11 seconds to score Ippon.

Next up was Francesco Sampino, from Italy who Petro beat with Ipoon with only 4 seconds left of contest time.

In the third place contest Petro came up against Pietro Andreini, again from Italy. It was a very close contest and with 15 seconds to go, Petro threw the Italian for a clear Waza-Ari, but it was not given by the referee – again a great injustice. The contest went to Golden Score and after 12 seconds the Italian threw Petro for Waza-Ari to win the contest and take the Bronze medal.

FIFTH PLACE for Petro out of 35 competitors – a good result at this level, but bad refereeing meant that a medal was taken from him.

Girogios Kalaitsides -60Kg

In his first contest, Giorgio came up against Thomas Jackson from Great Britain. The contest was very close with nothing really between the competitors and both receiving Shido’s. Regulation time ended and they went to Golden Score where after another 2 minutes and 40 seconds, Giorgio threw Jackson for Waza-Ari.

Still tired from his first contest, Giorgio had B. Tralhao Fernandez from Portugal in his second. It was a tough contest but the experience of Fernandes showed when he beat Giorgio with Ippon at the end of the first minute.

Giorgio was not ranked out of the 54 competitors in his category.

Day 2 saw our other competitors on the tatami

Maria Livadiotou -63Kg

Maria came up against Giulia Frosini from Italy in her first contest who had gotten Bronze at the Follonica Cadets European Cup in 2018. The experience of Frosini showed and scored a Waza-Ari and at the end of the third minute scored Ippon knocking Maria out of the competition.

Maria was not ranked out of the 29 competitors in her category.

Janet Michaelidou +70Kg

Janet received a bye in the first round and then came up against Mariia Ivanova from Russina. Janet fought well against her, but Ivanova was a more experienced opponent and scored Ippon at the start of the second minute – Ivanova went on to the final and took the Silver medal.

In the Repechage Janet first came up against Raquel Miret Lopez from sSpain who she threw in 22 seconds for Ippon.

Her next contest was against Oceane Diarrassouba from France. Both competitors received 2 Shido’s, but it was Janet who scored a Waza-Ari to go to the next round.

Here she met Tiziana Marini from Italy for the third place. Janet scored first with a Waza-Ari, but it was the Italian that scored an Ippon at the beginning of the fourth minute to take the Bronze medal.

FIFTH PLACE for Janet out of 14 competitors.

Odysseas Georgakis -90Kg

After receiving a bye in the first round, Odyssea came up against David Gatsoev from Russia. The Russian scored first with Waza-Ari and that’s how the contest ended meaning Odyssea went through to the Repechage – Gatsoev went on to the final to take Silver medal.

Next for Odyssea was Hamza Chemlal Hassan from Spain. Odyssea scored a Waza-Ari and went on to win the contest.

Francesco Basso from Italy was his next opponent who took the Bronze at the Koper Cadet European Cup. The Italian scored first with Waza-Ari and took the contest.

NINTH PLACE for Odyssea out of 24 competitors.

Giannis Antoniou +90Kg

First opponent for Gianni was Naim Heriche Garcia from Spain. Gianni scored Ippon in the second minute and went on to take the contest.

In the next round Gianni came up against the Russian Arsen Kadzaev who beat him in the second minute with Ippon sending Gianni to the Repechage.

First for Gianni there was Tal Ginadinik from Israel who lasted 90 seconds with Gianni scoring an Ippon.

Next up was Diego Salvado Carrillo from Spain who after receiving 2 Shido’s lost to Gianni at the end of the second minute with Ippon.

In the third place contest Gianni came up against Josyp El Sawy who scored a Waza-Ari and then an Ippon into the second minute taking the Bronze Medal

FIFTH PLACE for Gianni out of 16 competitors.

With a little luck we could have had some medals, but it was still an excellent showing by our all our athletes and they all make us proud!

Accompanying our athletes was Technical Director of the Federation Christodoulos Christodoulides and Club Coach Nicolas Batmanides.

Cyprus Judo Federation – #WeHaveADream