Azeri young men dominate first day of the European Cadet Championships in Vantaa

Azerbaijan was the winning nation at the first day of the Cadet European Championships in the Finnish city of Vantaa. Azerbaijan, always strong at the first day claimed two gold medals as only country, where seven nations took the gold. Rovshan Aliyev and Ahmad Yusifov won the two lightest boys categories.

Rovshan Aliyev defeated Hungarian Csanad Feczko in the final U50kg. Azerbaijan won another medal in this division with the bronze of Rashkhan Bakhishaliyev, accompanied on the stage by Kharun Tlishev.

Ahmad Yusifov captured the second Azeri gold today. In the final U55kg he overcame Dzmitry Muzhaila (BLR). Biagio D’angelo won bronze last year in the U50kg category and he repeated his success this year a weight class above.

Konstantin Simeonidis of Russia was the winner U60kg against Georgian rival Saba Grigalashvili. Spain won a good medal by Rosendo Laino in this competitive weight class. Kazbek Naguchev was the second Russian on the podium.

Latvia was the surprising winner of the gold medal U66kg. Artjoms Galaktionovs defeated Austrian World number one ranked Mathias Czizsek. He repeated the performance of last year when he won silver, but was eager to take the gold this time. Yehonatan Elbaz (ISR) and Aleko Mamiashvili (GEO) both won bronze.

Artjoms Galaktionovs  was the second in Latvian history to win the European Cadet title. Glebs Talalujevs was the first in 2011, but it isn’t easy to gain medals at senior level. Only a few make it successfully to the senior category.