Georgian youth judo team ended up European Championship with one gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals. The team took the third place among 39 countries. If Levan Matiashvili had won over Austrian Daniel Alerstorfer, he and Georgian team would have become European champions.
On the third day of the tournament, only Matiashvili stood on the pedestal from Gia Gugava’s team. Before Alerstorfer, he beat three rivals. Matiashvili won over Daniel Natea of Romania by waza-ari. He defeated Jilvinas Zabarskas of Lithuania and Stepan Sarkisyan of Russia by ippons. The only one yuko decided the fate of the final.
Before the decisive victory, Alerstorfer beat the second Georgian Ushangi Kokauri.
Giorgi Mermanishvili (90 kg) needed one victory for getting in top 3. After defeating Vladimir Sumeika of Belarus, Jilvinas Lekavicus of Lithuania, Benjamin Stofel of Sweden and Simon Glokner of Germany, Mermanishvili lost to Husen Khalmurzaev of Russia. In repechage final, he could not beat Mihael Zgank of Slovenia and took the fifth place. Giorgi Kavtaradze lost to Vitali Kovtunov of Ukraine. Before that, he beat Jonas Bauer of Germany.
Giorgi Tsnobiladze and Elguja Bibilashvili (100 kg) wrestled on tatami. Both of them lost to Dutch rivals in the first round. Tsnobiladze lost to Tiis Van Huigenbo and Bibilashvili – to Timo Lesterhuis.
Today, women champions and prize winners were found out in 78 and +78 kg. Georgian heavyweighter Elene Kebadze lost to Caroline Welz of Germany. Welz beat four opponents besides Kebadze and became European champion.
Georgian men team competed in European Championship with 16 judokas. Lasha Shavdatuashvili (66 kg) became champion. Matiashvili and Leri Chelidze (55 kg) took the second places and Mikheil Chokheli (73 kg) took the third place.
Team result. Men
1 Russia 2 0 4 3 3
2 Armenia 2 0 0 0 0
3 Georgia 1 2 1 1 1
4 Ukraine 1 0 1 1 2
5 Italy 1 0 1 0 1
6 Austria 1 0 0 0 1
7 Germany 0 1 2 1 1
8 Israel 0 1 1 2 0
9 Slovenia 0 1 1 1 0
10 France 0 1 0 0 3
Otar Maglakelidze
