Two medals for Austria – gold for the junior world champion Elena Dengg (ESV Sanjindo / up to 70 kilos) and bronze for the Viennese Magamed Borchashvilli (Allianz Kukla Galaxy Tigers / up to 81 kg) took place on Saturday at the Under-23 European Championships in Pila (POL). Elena stormed to the European Championship title with four confident victories after the World Cup, Magamed achieved his first international podium with four successes and only one defeat in the fifth attempt. It was already on Friday Laura Callinger (Judoring Vienna / up to 57 kg) Fifth and Marcus Auer (JC Premstätten / up to 66 kg) seventh.
Borchashvilli started strong. To the Ippon against the Hungary Bendeguz Demeter The Viennese was a single second short of the Osaekomi, but even with the Waza-ari achieved beforehand it was a confident success. In the round of 16 against Mamaoudou Kindi Ba (ESP) he had the opponent better under control – Ippon for Kuzure-Kesa-Gatame after 1:51 minutes. Magamed was stopped in the quarterfinals by Omar Rajabli (AZE), who won with Waza-ari awasete Ippon after 1:27 minutes. Borchashvilli was able to free himself from the first hold with Waza-ari, but not from the second. In the consolation round against the Czechs Alexander Sojka The 21-year-old was once again the dominant judoka. After chances on the ground (one choke, one lever) and a waza-ari for a kind of ura nage, he practically pinned his opponent with the final bell. In the fight for bronze against Petr Mlady (CZE) both had two shido each, but Magamed managed to score the decisive waza-ari (dive) early on. With that, bronze and – after losing four international bronze fights – the goal of his dreams. “I really wanted this medal, not to fail a fifth time. “I’m all the happier today,” said the 21-year-old Viennese. We are happy for him and congratulate him! Eliminated in the same category Issa Naschcho (LZ Multikraft Wels) unfortunately with one win and one defeat.
Dengg marched confidently into the gold fight. The 20-year-old from Salzburg from Bischofshofen struck first Claudia Speroitti (ITA) with Ippon in the Golden Score, in the quarterfinals Sarah Mehlau (GER) with Waza-ari and in the semifinals the Pole Aleksandra Kowalewska also with a half point. In the fight for the second major title of the year against the Germans Samira Bock A Waza-ari in the Golden Score decided in favor of the Salzburg woman, who then enjoyed the Austrian national anthem at the award ceremony. And then he answered questions in excellent English in the “Golden Score” of “JudoTV,” where he said: “This difficult year couldn’t have ended any better for me. Because of the many injuries, first my thumb, then my rib and knee, it was my most difficult year. “Two gold medals, first at the Junior World Championships, now at the Under-23 European Championships, is actually incredible – it’s the best year of my career so far.”
This means that Austria has two medals and another two top 7 placements. Kallinger’s disappointment about placing 5th at 57 kilos and thus the bronze medal was already gone the next day. “It’s the same place as last year, but I still noticed my development. For example, I threw an Uchi Mata/Harai-goshi for the first time at this international level,” says Laura, who also knows about her problem in the semifinals and bronze fight: “I couldn’t really attack both of them. And without a good grip I can’t apply my techniques.” There are certainly more exciting tasks waiting – and in just under four years, in 2028 in Los Angeles, there will be the Olympic Games again…
Georgia (3/1/1) was the most successful nation, followed by the Netherlands (2/2/1), Azerbaijan (2/1/2) and Spain (2/0/2). Five other nations won gold once each (ITA, ISR, AUT, MDA and SWE), Austria (1/0/1) ended up in a good 7th place among the 36 participating nations (321 judoka). The European Championships will conclude on Sunday with the mixed competition, in which eleven nations (but not Austria) will take part.
Foto: Jubel über ihr zweites Mega-Gold 2024 - Elena DENGG - alle Fotos: @EJU / Carlos Ferreira und Gabi Juan
Magamed BORCHASHVILLI (second from right) with the longed-for medal
