One of the first European competitions for cadets this year was the Cadet European Cup in Follonica, Italy with 495 athletes (281 men and 204 women) from 25 countries.

Cyprus was represented by Janet Michaelidou in the +70Kg category and by Yiannis Antoniou in the +90Kg

Janet Michaelidou +70Kg

Janet came up against the French athlete Mathe Sidibe who beat Janet in the third minute with Ippon after first scoring a Waza-Ari.  As Sidibe progressed to the last 4, this meant that Janet was in the Reperchage.

Janet came up against Lea Fischer from Germany who she beat in under a minute with Ippon.  Next up was Marisol Salvadori from Italy who lasted 13 seconds into the second minute, but again was beaten by Janet with Ippon. Her third opponent was Angelica Zanesco, again from Italy who lasted almost 2 minutes, but again lost to Janet with Ippon.  Next up was semi-finalist Daria Lapina who narrowly lost to the Gold medallist.  Although Lapina received a Shido, she went on to beat Janet at the end of the first minute with Ippon.

This gave Janet FIFTH place over all.

Yiannis Antoniou +90Kg

Yiannis’ first contest was against the Italian, Jean Carletti who had gotten Silver and Bronze at two European Cadet events in 2019. Yiannos scored a Waza-Ari and then an Ippon to beat him and progressed to the Semi-Final where he came up against Dimitrii Iakushev of Russia – a very strong and experienced opponent who took only 20 seconds to beat Yianni – he went on to take the Gold.

This put Yianni in the Repechage and he fought for third place with Noa Bourtal Zarat from France. Yiannis scored first with a Waza-Ari and then just into the third minute he beat the Frenchman with Ippon.

THIRD place to Yianni and the Bronze medal.

Once again out athletes fought bravely and represented Cyprus well – Janet just missing out on the Bronze medal and Yianni coming home with a Bronze medal.

Well done to both Yianni and Janet – you did us proud!

Cyprus Judo Federation – #WeHaveADream