Cadet World Championships 2015, Sarajevo

Sarajevo, Aug 9, 2015: The Cadet World Championships 2015 produced a riveting last day of the individual competitions as the heavyweights were finally able to test their mettle at the Olympic Hall Juan Antonio Samaranch in Sarajevo.

Day four saw exactly 100 judoka compete across the girls’ -70kg and +70kg categories and the boys’ -90kg and +90kg categories.

The draw for Sunday’s team event took place before the final block on day four as the heads of delegations and coaches assembled matside to discover who their young judoka will be line up opposite against on the last day of the Cadet World Championships 2015 in Sarajevo.

IJF President Mr. Marius VIZER was joined in attendance by Bosnia and Herzegovina President Mr. Bakir IZETBEGOVIC who was engrossed in the action on the tatami as he showed his full support for the IJF’s first World Championships of the year.

Japan finished top of the individual medal table with a haul of four gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals ahead of Russia who finished second having amassed a total of two gold, one silver and six bronze medals. The individual event will also be remembered for its wide distribution of medals as 29 countries won medals in the first four days of competition.

Olympic champion Lucie DECOSSE (FRA) has been leading the next generation of French athletes this week as a national cadet coach for the French Judo Federation.

DECOSSE, who retired in 2013 after an illustrious career which included three world titles and four European titles, said: “After retiring I travelled the world staging masterclasses in places such as Japan and Abu Dhabi and then in January of this year I took the opportunity to join the French coaching team to work with the cadets.”

“The event here is very impressive, it is a big stage of course and for me it is on par with all senior events,” added the French hero.

“The athletes are very emotional and for me I want to cry too, we share these moments and feelings together. I know how hard it is, when I was fighting at this age I was gaining experience which helped me a lot later in my career when my results improved.

“This competition is a learning curve and the team has worked very hard and I enjoying working with all of them.”

GIRLS
-70kg: Croatia’s PRODAN earns first major title with ippon bonanza
Cadet European champion and top seed Alina BOEHM (GER) lost out to Cadet European Championships and EYOF bronze medallist Karla PRODAN (CRO) in the race for the -70kg world title. PRODAN won all four fights by ippon including the final after 71 seconds as her German rival had to settle for silver but still they shared a warm embrace after the Croatian was awarded the contest.

In the first semi-final BOEHM (GER) defeated Cadet European Team Championships gold medallist Madina TAIMAZOVA (RUS) on shido penalties while in the second semi-final EYOF silver medallist Jovana PEKOVIC (MNE) was beaten by PRODAN (CRO) by ippon from a ko-uchi-gari having led by a yuko.

The first bronze medal was won by beaten semi-finalist PEKOVIC (MNE) by a yuko to earn her country’s first medal in Sarajevo as she beat Cadet European Cup bronze medallist TAKAKU Suzuka (JPN). The second bronze medal was claimed by TAIMAZOVA (RUS) who saw off 16-year-old Nefeli PAPADAKIS (USA) with a waza-ari and yuko going unanswered.

+70kg: Perfect outing for Japan’s SONE
Cadet European Cup winner SONE Akira (JPN) was a class above the opposition in Sarjevo as she clinched the Cadet World title with five wins and five ippons. SONE overwhelmed TOTH Fanni (HUN) in the final and secured top spot after exactly 60 seconds by wazari-awasette-ippon with the second waza-ari coming from a ko-uchi-makikomi.

In the first semi-final contest SONE Akira (JPN) dispatched Cadet European Championships silver medallist Maxime BRAUSEWETTER (GER) by ippon after two minutes while in the second semi-final Cadet European Cup winner Ina BAUERNFEIND (GER) was undone by Cadet European Championships bronze medallist TOTH Fanni (HUN) in osaekomi.

The first bronze medal was claimed by Cadet Pan American Cup winner Beatriz SOUZA (BRA) who defeated BAUERNFEIND (GER) by ippon after two minutes with a driving osoto-gari. The second bronze medal contest was won by Cadet European Team Championships gold medallist Evgeniia KONDRASHOVA (RUS) who inflicted one more defeat for BRAUSEWETTER (GER). KONDRASHOVA scored a yuko and sat on the slender advantage as she accumulated three shido penalties to wind down the clock and protected her score until the end of the four minutes.

BOYS
-90kg: CATHARINA doubles the Netherlands’ gold medal tally
EYOF bronze medallist Simeon CATHARINA (NED) delivered for the Netherlands as he won his country’s second gold medal of the competition. CATHARINA squeezed out Cadet European Championships winner Zelym KOTSOIEV (AZE) to win the -90kg Cadet World title by a yuko which was the only time the scoreboard was troubled.

In the first semi-final CATHARINA (NED) came from behind to deny two-time Cadet European Cup winner Adam Khadzhi MUTALIEV (RUS) a passage into the final as he won by ippon having trailed to a yuko.

In the second semi-final KOTSOIEV (AZE) defeated All Japan Cadet Championships winner IWAKI Keisuke (JPN) with little resistance as he scored yuko and the ippon inside 43 seconds.

The first bronze medal was clinched by EYOF winner Onise SANEBLIDZE (GEO) who lifted up IWAKI (JPN) with a monumental ura-nage for ippon with two minutes remaining. The second bronze medal was won by Cadet European Cup silver medallist Anton SACHYLOVICH (BLR) who edged out MUTALIEV (RUS) on shido penalties with two against the Russian while the former pitched an unblemished record.

+90kg: KAITOV wins all-Russian heavyweight final
Top seed and Cadet European Championships silver medallist Kemal KAITOV (RUS) proved himself on the highest stage of his career as he held off Cadet European Championships winner Inal TASOEV (RUS) after 58 seconds in the +90kg final.

In the first semi-final top seed KAITOV (RUS) defeated Cadet European Cup gold medallist Khurshed MADZHIDOV (TJK) by ippon with a left ko-soto-gake with 22 seconds left while in the second semi-final TASOEV (RUS) triumphed against 17-year-old EYOF winner Stephan HEGYI (AUT) by holding down the Austrian for 15 seconds for his second and match-winning waza-ari.

The first bronze medal was won by HEGYI (AUT) against multiple-time Cadet European Cup medallist Aleks MOLODECKIJ (LTU). The 1st Kyu Austrian beat the 2nd Kyu Lithuanian by a waza-ari score and despite being penalised for negative posture he contained his opponent with relative ease. The second bronze medal was captured by MADZHIDOV (TJK) as Lithuania again finished on the wrong side with national u23 silver medallist Ignas MECAJUS (LTU) this time losing out by two yuko scores. —- Photos © IJF Media by G. Sabau