Rome, June 26, 2025. The opening day of the European Cadet Championships at the Sports Sandanski Sports Center in Skopje ends with a silver and a bronze.
It is an unstoppable Matteo Gualandi (Banzai Cortina Roma), in the -55 kg, to give Italy the first medal of this review, overcoming Zaimidis (Gre) for the absence of the opponent, Kostoev (Swe), Jakubouskas (LTU) at the end of a meeting full of twists and turns and finally in the semifinals the Coiacean Topygin (IJF) after a long Gonden Score, thus ensuring the place in the place in the place in the place Final, in which he surrendered for a single Yuko against Azero Alizada. “Today was a good race, said Gualandi, A very important result came out thanks to hard work and sacrifices. I thank my gym, Banzai Cortina Rome, my parents to always support me, my master Danilo and Francesco my best friend “
Bronze for Raffaele Sodano (Nippon Club Napoli) in the -60 kg, which exceeds Gashi (Kos) and Magura (SRB), undergoes a stop in the quarterfinals against Fedora (Hun) and in the recovery phases he wins against Cori (Sul) and Kunyik (Hun). The final for third place sees him opposed to Muniz Acosta (Pol). It is during the Golden Score that Raffaele scored a splendid Waza Ari by Morote SEOI Nage and conquers the bronze medal. “I am very happy with this path of mine and my milestone. I think it is one of my best performances this year, but it is only a good start for the next appointments that will be equally very important. I thank my family that supports me every day, but above all my Nippon Club Napoli gym that encourages me and pushes me to give my best”.
Fifth place for Giada Tursi (Jigoro Kano Mola) in the -40 kg which after passing Vukmirovic (SRB) and the N ° 1 of the Seed Radics (Hun) stops in the semifinal against the Turkish Ylmazturk. In the final for the bronze is the Russian Saifutdinova to find during a phase of Ne Waza the possibility to close the meeting. Finally seventh place for Matteo Douine (Turin Academy) in the -50 kg.
The head of the Cadet activity is also satisfied Massimiliano Pasca: “We started this European championship in the best way by playing three finals of which one for gold. My compliments go to Matteo Gualandi who became vice champion of Europe and Raffaele Sodano who ranked third as well as Jade Tursi who unfortunately must be satisfied with fifth place. But the compliments go to the whole team that behaved in the best way, even if as mentioned above, a very young team, but with a very young team. Now we have to stay focused on the races of the next days. “
Tomorrow in the race Giulia Bonzano (-52 kg), Rachele Moruzzi (-57 kg) and Giorgia Frosoni (-63 kg), Alessandro Ercoli (-66 kg), Giuseppe Armor (-73 kg).
