Italy applauds Daniele Accogli and Erica Simonetti who, in the MBS Arena in Potsdam, won the title of European under 23 champion. Daniele, 21 years old, is champion in the 100 kg, the same category in which he triumphed last year last in Prague, in 20231118 Potsdam DWelcome 1junior continental championship. Erica is also 21 years old and won the title in the +78 kg. She also already boasts a European title in her personal palmares and it is the one won in Warsaw in 2019 in the +70 kg at the Cadet European Championships.
It’s a great coup achieved by Italy under 23 on the second day, adding two gold medals to yesterday’s three placings with Francesco Cargnelutti and Marco Valerio Feliziani, third and fifth respectively in the 66 kg and Sofia Mazzola , seventh in the 48 kg. Daniele Accogli conducted an impeccable match, eliminating first the Romanian Alexandru Sibisan, then the German Kilian Kappelmaier and in the semi-final the Ukrainian Oleksii Yershov. The final blow was scored on the Englishman Oliver Barratt, who was literally uprooted and crashed to the ground.
Erica Simoneti, for her part, dominated the category, fending off the attacks of the Dutch Paulien Sweers and the Gerogian Salome Makishvili, before finishing both the semi-final with the Ukrainian Ruslana Bualvina and the final with the Dutch Carmen Dijkstra before time. “I am very happy for today’s race – commented Erica Simonetti – especially after this year which was a bit difficult and lacking in medals. I would like to thank the whole Toniolo family, Nicholas Mungai and the Army Sports Center for supporting me day by day on my journey.”
“We finish this U23 European Championship in fifth place, behind Georgia, Holland, Ukraine and Hungary, with two excellent gold medals, a bronze medal and a fifth place unfortunately obtained in the same final and a seventh place which could be, let’s say, questionable – commented Salvatore Ferro and Luca Ravanetti – A good performance by these guys who demonstrated that they have completed a maturation process that led them to excel in the last European Championship before the Senior European Championship, a demonstration that, starting from the cadets , passing through the juniors and arriving at the entrance to the senior world, the Italian youth academy is full of talents to invest in. Sorry for the athletes who were unable to achieve a result that they deserved, in hindsight, for the effort put into preparation then maybe we could have collected something more. Many of them are in their first or second year of junior, 4 or 5 years away from the “older” ones in the category, we are sure the kids and the clubs will get to work because the next result is different.”
2023-11-19 18:52:54
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