In the U18s, Ivan Gjorgiev and Spencer Reichardt were two experienced judokas, while Azita Bold made her debut in this age group. Azita faced her training partner Lüthi from Weinfelden in the first fight, but had to admit defeat in a balanced fight. Since Lüthi lost the follow-up fight, Azita couldn’t save herself in the repechage either, and so the first U18 competition was quickly over. For Ivan, the tournament meant the first test for the new grip concept that he had developed at the performance center with trainer Guillermo Figueroa. Even if he fell back into old habits from time to time, he was able to fight his way to the semi-finals with -50 kg, where he lost – fortunately uninjured – against the very hard-fighting Gruber from Vorarlberg. In the battle for bronze, long-term rival Cori from host Morges was once again waiting. Ivan fought like a lion but had to admit defeat with 5th place.
Spencer was also able to secure his place in the semi-finals in the weight class -55 kg with two very good fights, but failed there in a moment when he was not concentrating on Italian Baud and his choking technique. The very strenuous fight for bronze went all the way to the Golden Score, where Spencer was able to win with a throwing technique, but was visibly exhausted and the joy of winning the medal faded into the background. Before the start in the U21 age group, there were about 15 minutes for regeneration – a real challenge even for a physically and mentally strong fighter. Spencer was motivated, but it wasn’t enough. Rival Bassi relegated Spencer to the repechage, where after a win against Loris from Ticino he had to admit defeat to the strong Basler Krause in the fight for bronze. Nevertheless, a pleasing balance remains; Swiss championship qualifier U18: check, U21: on the right track – and the season has only just begun…
Shadee Bold was able to tick off the qualification completely, not only in the U21, but surprisingly also in her new age group Elite. In the first fight in the U21 -63kg it didn’t look like it at all, Shadee failed in the golden score against Salzmann from Grenchen, but was able to recover and mentally prepare well for the repechage. There she first beat Vorarlberg’s Milz in a balanced fight, then Berner’s Schürch in the encounter for bronze. The first medal was secured. Shadee had not set himself any big goals for the Elite age group, but in the first fight his rival Salzmann was waiting again, and the fight went into overtime again. But this time Shadee was able to win with a foot technique and move into the semifinals. The fight against the Tessinerin Castellani turned out to be resinous, no recipe was found. The opponent was ahead with waza-ari with 20 seconds to go but had already incurred two penalties. The third penalty would mean defeat, regardless of victory points. Shadee put the Ticino skilfully under pressure with grip fighting and subsequent attacks, so that the referee had no choice but to impose the third penalty. Not elegant, but effective, Shadee secured her place in the final. The fact that she failed there because of Sutter from Grenchen seemed more than irrelevant at the time.
Happy and tired as a dog, all the fighters and coach Regine were able to return to St. Gallen in the snowstorm with two bronze and one silver medals in their luggage and hope that despite the minus temperatures, the door of the judo bus for the competition on Sunday will not freeze again.
