Léonie Minkada-Caquineau (left) is vice European champion.
Credit photo: Gabi Juan/UEJ
One was expected, the other probably a little less. Reigning European Champion, Léonie Minkada-Caquineau (Dojos de l’Agglomération du Niortais 79) brings back a new continental medal this afternoon from Sofia. Silver, in +70kg.
Gaya Sonntag (Olympic Judo Nice) created the — very good — surprise of the day, since he won the bronze in -90kg (see below). With these two new podiums, France finished with five medals (two silver, three bronze, but, and this is much more embarrassing, in eleventh place in the nations ranking. A ranking dominated by Russia, which instantly regains its leadership, it whose last participation in this event dates back to 2021.
A look back at this final day of the European Cadet Championships.
There was reason to be optimistic this Saturday for the French clan. Indeed, the latter still had some great cards up his sleeve in -70kg, +70kg and +90kg, the holders of these three categories having performed well in these categories on the European circuit throughout the season. This evening the results are, to say the least, mixed. Among the women, only Léonie Minkada-Caquineau once again tastes the joy of a continental podium. The other Habs in this double category, Emma Feuillet-Nguimgo (JC Villiers-le-Bel), finished unclassified. In the quarter-final, she was beaten by Estonian Emma-Melis Aktats after an undecided golden score. A fight that the French vice-champion thought – legitimately – to have won after a counter action, thanks to a very inspired uki-waza. But the UEJ supervisors believed that Feuillet-Nguimgo had leaned on his back to launch his movement. An interpretation which was in no way convincing since the images showed the opposite, the back of the Tricolor only touching at the end of the action, when Aktas had already fallen. A retrospective complaint will also be filed by the French staff. An action in sen no sen easy to read for those who know our discipline, but which, in the total confusion in which current arbitration finds itself, has given rise to debate on its interpretation. Heartbreaking.
Reigning French champion, victorious in Croatia and Azerbaijan this season, Léonie Minkada-Caquineau, formerly of the Poitiers hopefuls pole, crossed her table until placing her koshi-jime precisely in Aktas, in the semi-final, to offer herself a second final in a row. A revenge since Minkada-Caquineau lost in the final in Spain against this Estonian. She found the Polish Zuzanna Banaszewska, bronze at the 2023 Worlds, in the final. A left-handed fighter, very interesting, tall (1m80). Unfortunately, the Tricolor never found the solution: after an extremely light first waza-ari on a counter – the point of the Tricolor’s shoulder touching the ground -, the Pole folded the game on a beautifully crafted o-soto-otoshi . Zuzanna Banaszewska? Like some Russians before her, she is one of these young European gems to follow in view of Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.
In -70kg, Nina Muteba (GS Senlis Judo) finished her day, like Feuillet-Nguimgo, in seventh place. Reigning French champion, victorious in four European Cups (Spain, Italy, Croatia and Germany) since the beginning of February (!), the Frenchwoman was surprised in the quarter-final by an ura-nage from a Bulgarian whom she dominated until there in a very authoritarian way. Frustrating.
Gaya Sonntag, bronze medalist in -90kg.
Credit photo: Gabi Juan/UEJ
Among the men, the two +90kg did not find their way to the podium either, even though their seasons gave multiple reasons for optimism. This Saturday, Kevin Nzuzi Diavisi (AJS 77) and Jean-Pascal da Costa Bi Goly (JC Chilly-Mazarin Morangis) were both beaten in the table by the Belarusian Yauheni Morau – finally third this evening –. The two Frenchmen found themselves in repechage. Opposed in the final of the French championships and in Porec for the Croatian European Cup – victory each time for Nzuzi Diavisi, it was Bi Goly who this time beat Nzuzi Diasivi, punished with a direct hansokumake. The first will lose the following fight, against a Ukrainian. With these hopes of medals gone, it was ultimately Gaya Sonntag, a pure product of Olympic Judo Nice, who would bring home the only men’s medal from this Bulgarian event. Replacing Minas Andzian (JC Grand-Quevilly) at the last moment, who was prevented from returning to Bulgaria for administrative reasons, the Niçois, without complexes, made his way to the semi-final with varied, strong and sincere attacks. If he loses against the Ukrainian Dmytro Lebid – future European champion – in the semi-final, Sonntag cuts the Dutchman Sieb Griede for bronze in two sequences: makikomi then o-soto-otoshi. Neat and tidy. A medal which allows the men’s team not to return empty-handed from Sofia. Ironically, this only podium is due to a judoka who, just a week ago, was a substitute.
A 2024 edition of the European Championships which will therefore remain unfortunate for the French team, relegated to eleventh place in the medal rankings – its worst ranking since 2017 –, ahead of countries like Estonia, Slovakia or Serbia. A 2024 edition without a continental title, a first since 2017. A men’s bronze medal? It is identical to 2017, better than in 2015 and 2018 (no medal), but worse than since 2019 (in 2021, there was only one medal, but it was silver with Jason Okoye).
For women, this is the first edition since 2017 without a European title. A statistic that we thought had almost disappeared since although it was hard to come by in the early 2010s (between 2010 and 2012 precisely), it did not appear in the aftermath than in 2015 and 2017. The figure of four medals is in the high range of the previous decade (the average is around three), but below the last two editions: six medals in 2022 (two titles, two silver medals, two bronze), the same in 2023 (two titles, one silver medal, three bronze).
An edition to be analyzed more closely, but which we immediately perceive to have been the “strongest” for many years: of course and above all because the best European country in this age group out of the twenty recent years has returned to business, absent as he has been since 2021. Then, because if France can still count on a solid women’s group – we must still congratulate the four medalists who are Mathilde Aurel, Clarisse Carillon, Manon Agati-Alouache and Léonie Minkada-Caquineau -, the women’s continental level tends to become significantly more dense and that apart from in particular 2019 (two men’s titles with the two ACBB Boys) and to a lesser extent 2022 (a triumphant year), the good ranking of the The French cadet team has held its last ten and fifteen years mainly on the coronation of the women’s tricolors. France is, with Russia, the only country that can boast of being a so-called “mass” system. How can we explain that our structure, rightly envied throughout the world, cannot produce more medalists and/or cadet continental champions and, as Russia does, at each edition?
A question that Russia did not have to ask itself. First nation between 2005 and 2019 and then until 2021, the Russian team immediately regains its leadership, it which has only played in the cadet European Cup since the beginning of 2022. For this 2024 edition, it finishes with four titles, four silver medals and three bronze. First nation with a total of eleven medals, Russia achieves here in Sofia its best result among the women with one title, three silver medals and two bronze. A rise in power of the women that will have to be monitored in the years to come. Because if the women get to the level of the men…
In second position, Poland had a superb competition with four medals, including three women’s medals with the titles in -63kg and +70kg and silver in -48kg. Serbia finished in a prodigious third place with two titles in -70kg and -73kg and two bronze medals in -44kg and -66kg. Disappointment for Azerbaijan, first nation in 2023 which only finished in seventh place this evening with a single title, in -50kg. Tomorrow the team event.
2024-06-29 21:00:31
#cadets #MinkadaCaquineau #Sonntag
