Our athletes were off to another competition this week – the IJF World Junior Judo Championships in Marrakech, Morocco, another HUGE event with 517 competitors (294 men and 223 women) from 81 countries taking part.
Representing Cyprus were 4 athletes. For the women, Sofia Asvesta -52Kg and for the men Loukas Louka -66Kg, Dato Matsoukatov -73Kg and Georgios Kroussaniotakis in the -90Kg categories.
Sofia Asvesta -52Kg
First up was Sofia who came up against Tatiana Tsygankova of the Russian Federation who had already claimed Gold at the Junior European Cup in Prague and Bronze at the Lignano Junior European Cup – both this year.
The first minute went by with both athletes vying for grips and trying to attack the other. Sofia scored first late in the second minute with a Waza-Ari and then continued to attack and defend against the attacks of the Russian athlete. At the end of the third minute, Tsygankova attacked and scored a Waza-Ari to even the score and with 20 seconds to go Sofia received a Shido. The time ended in a draw and we went to Golden Score. The Russian attacked twice and on her third attempt caught Sofia for a score to give her Ippon and win the contest.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSQ_YUGFOi0
Loukas Louka -66Kg
Louka had the “fortune” to come up against the Japanese athlete Tanto Katsura in his first contest – an experienced international athlete who had taken Gold at the World Championship Cadets in 2017 and Silver at the Cadets European Championship in the same year.
The contest started at a very fast pace as was to be expected at this weight with both athletes attempting to attack, but Louka received a Shido after 30 seconds for taking the leg of his opponent and then a second for defensive posture. Katsura attacked at the end of the second minute and although Louka managed to avoid the score, he didn’t manage to avoid the Osae-Komi and was held by the Japanese athlete for Ippon.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLQRKMvBghg
Dato Matsoukatov -73Kg
Dato came up against Kilian Ochs in his first contest – an experienced competitor from Germany who had taken Gold at the Kaunas Junior European Cup in 2018 and Bronze at the same event in 2019 and 2017.
The contest was very strong and the German came out attacking and almost caught Dato with a Yoko Tomoenage and then again with another, but Dato held off although at the beginning of the second minute he received a Shido for non-combativity. The pace settled and both athletes tried to get their grip and Dato was the more attacking athlete, but was almost got thrown for a counter technique. The German went for treatment to stop some blood and the contest continued. With one minute to go, Dato received a second Shido for an incorrect grip. The contest continued and as the German turned in with one minute and 43 seconds to go, Dato countered him and received a Waza-Ari and then 40 seconds later he once again attacked and received a second Waza-Ari, winning the contest.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=062j5Kpf20Q
In his next contest, Dato came up against local favourite Salim Boushita from Morocco who had got Bronze medals at both the African Junior Championship and Casablanca Junior African Cup this year.
Another fast-paced contest with both athletes attacking right from the first Hajme! Grips were very important and at the end of the first minute, Dato received a Shido for non-combativity. The contest continued with both athletes attaching and taking their chances both in Tachi-Waza and Ne-Waza. With 1 minute 45 seconds to go, Boushita received a Shido for defensive posture. Both players continued to attack as the contest continued with Dato almost throwing the Moroccan at the end of the third minute. Dato received a second Shido for non-combativity and the Moroccan a second for a false attack – 2 Shido’s apiece. The four minutes ended without a score and Golden Score started and as the two athletes tried their attacks, the Moroccan attempted to throw Dato after 40 seconds, but was deemed to have done a false attack receiving is third Shido and disqualifying him.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFtlzBaCTBU
Next up for Dato was Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov from Russia – Gold medallist in the Lignano Junior European Cup in 2019, Gold medallist in the St. Petersburg Junior European Cup again in 2019 and Gold medallist in the Prague Junior European Cup in 2018.
Lots of attacks in the first minute and attempts at Ne-Waza from both athletes, but the Russian received a Shido after 1 minute for a prolonged cross grip. The contest continued with Dato the more aggressive and attacking athlete and at the end of the second minute, the Russian received his second Shido for non-combativity – Dato was certainly attacking more and this continued for another 14 seconds when the Russian was penalised for a clear false attack and received his third Shido and eliminating him from the contest and putting Dato into the Quarter-Final.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWyjsaBpc2A
His opponent was the Austrian Samuel Gassner, a very experienced athlete who had taken a Bronze medal at the Coimbra Junior European Cup this year.
Both athletes tried to get their grip, with neither giving way to the other and Dato received a Shido after 25 seconds for a defensive posture. Both athletes attacked and Dato came close to scoring when he threw the Austrian who landed on his front and then again at the end of the first minute and after another 15 seconds, the Austrian got a Shido for non-combativity. At the end of the second minute Dato attacked and threw the Austrian again, but once again, this was not enough for a score and we went into the third minute where Dato attacked, but was caught with a counter throw by Gassner for a Waza-Ari who then continued into Ne-Waza and held Dato down for a second Waza-Ari.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eH_Lm43CDU
All was not lost as this put Dato into the Repechage needing two more wins for a Bronze medal.
His next opponent was Edoardo Mella from Italy who had taken one Silver and two Bronze medals at European level Junior Championships in 2018.
As expected, both athletes came out looking to win and attacking and it was Dato who almost had the first score after 15 seconds, but the Italian landed on his front. Twenty seconds later, Dato received a Shido for a defensive grip and the contest continued with both athletes attacking and also trying to hold in Ne-Waza, but without success. Halfway through the second minute Dato attacked, but was countered by the Italian with Ura Nage for an Ippon losing the contest.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5toueqMK6g
This result gave him SEVENTH IN THE WORLD U21 – another EXCELLENT result. With a little more luck in the throws we could have been competing for a Bronze medal at least!
Georgios Kroussaniotakis -90Kg
Day three saw Georgios competing and his first contest was against Ivan Dubina from Belarus who had already taken a Gold at the Prague Junior European Cup and Silver at the Kaunas Junior European Cup – both of them this year.
The contest started and with his first attack, the Belarussian scored a Waza-Ari after only seven seconds, a little too easily and continued to have the majority of attacks for the first part of the contest and Georgio received a Shido for non-combativity after 40 seconds. He started to attack more, but again the majority of attacks were from Dubina and Georgio received a second Shido again for non-combativity after 2 minutes. Dubina received a Shido for a false attack 15 seconds later and the majority of the attacks after that were by Georgio with the Belarussian receiving a second Shido with one minute to go – again for a false attack. The contest continued and Georgio attacked more and came close to throwing his opponent, but in the end, he was beaten by the time and lost the contest.
Contest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR0ElLRHFRM
The team was accompanied by National Coach, Lavrentis Alexanidis.
Make no mistake, this was the World Championships and a very tough competition.
With a little bit of luck, some of our athletes could have progressed further, but at the same time they ALL OF THEM fought well and again made us proud, especially Dato Matsoukatov who achieved SEVENTH PLACE – seventh in the world for Dato!
Without competitions such as these, it is difficult for our athletes to improve, because you only get better when you compete against someone better than yourself and the results of the past year have started to show that.
Let us hope that we are able to secure more funding for the years to come so that our athletes can get even better and bring back medals at the world championships because funding for Judo in Cyprus lags far behind that of nearly every other sport in Cyprus and in other countries, some even smaller than Cyprus, funding for Judo is much, much more.
Cyprus Judo Federation – We Have A Dream!
