Mathilda Sophie Niemeyer claimed the U23 European championship title in the women’s under-78 kg division at the continental tournament in Naples, Italy, where the German team secured five medals overall, judobund.de reported.
Title Run in Naples
Fighting for the 1. JJJC Hattingen, the 21-year-old two-time junior world silver medalist defeated Israel’s Gaya Bar Or in the quarterfinals after two minutes via yoko-shiho-gatame. In the semifinals, Niemeyer dispatched Italy’s Nikolett Sagi in 87 seconds using the exact same hold. The final pitted her against Ukraine’s Anna Kazakova, the third-place finisher from the previous year. Niemeyer controlled the gold-medal bout with three yuko scores and a wazaari to take the championship.
Weight Class Battles
In the men’s under-100 kg category, Jannis Baschin of Sportfreunde Kladow met Azhdar Baghirov of Azerbaijan in a tightly contested final. Baghirov claimed a yuko advantage with 14 seconds remaining on the clock, but Baschin immediately answered to level the score. During the golden score overtime period, the Azerbaijani judoka secured the win with a wazaari. To reach the final, the 22-year-old Berliner defeated Romania’s Rares Arsenie with a wazaari in the semifinals, following earlier preliminary victories over Spain’s Roman Amaro Cabello and Romania’s Alexandru Sibisan.
Bronze Medals and Placements
Germany added three bronze medals to its tally through Shenna Nitsche (VfL Riesa, under 63 kg), Tanja Grünewald (TSV Altenfurt, under 70 kg), and Mortaza Suha (Judo-Team Hannover, over 100 kg). Both Nitsche and Suha won two preliminary matches before dropping their respective semifinals. Nitsche rebounded to defeat Sweden’s Vilda Backlund by ippon via two wazaari scores in the bronze-medal match. Suha stopped Georgia’s Giorgi Baduashvili early using an o-uchi-gari followed by a hold-down. Grünewald lost her quarterfinal but bounced back in the repechage final to defeat Romania’s Isabel Bob in 50 seconds with sankaku-gatame.
Helen Habib (JC 66 Bottrop, under 48 kg) and Nina Güth (JC 71 Düsseldorf, under 52 kg) both finished seventh after securing one victory each. Meanwhile, Luke Cabecana (JC Wermelskirchen, under 60 kg), Florian Böcker (JC 66 Bottrop, under 66 kg), Sebastian Kaun (TSV Großhadern, under 81 kg), and Pierre Ederer (TSV Tauberbischofsheim, under 81 kg) exited the competition in the round of 16.
Mixed Team Quarterfinal
Competition continues with the mixed team event, where the German squad faces Georgia in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
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