Szabina Gercsak adds another European title to her profile

Szabina Gercsak remains unbeaten in this age category. The Hungarian super woman added another title at her luxurious profile at the European U23 Championships in Tel Aviv. Hungary, The Ukraine and Croatia were the winning nations for the women in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

Despite her recent injury Gercsak made a satisfying comeback taking the gold like last year. Gercsak already won three different European titles. Today her opponent in the final was Jemima Yeats-Brown of Great Britain which was the expected final. The Briton is in form, she won the European Open in Glasgow and took bronze at the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi. After 17 seconds in the match Gercsak launched her left uchimata and scored wazari and 37 second for the end again a fantastic impulsive throw by the Hungarian which delivered a yuko, enough to defend her title. Aleksandra Samardzic (BIH) and Elisavet Teltsidou (GRE) took bronze in this category where 25 women competed, equal to the U52kg division on Friday, but more participants than ever at a European U23 Championships since 2003.

The final U78kg was between Anastasiya Turchyn of the Ukraine versus Antonina Shmeleva of Russia. No scores in this final but it was Shmeleva who was given a penalty and that was the decision in the match. Turchyn was European Cadet champion in 2011 and took the European U23 in 2013 and European Junior title in 2014, but in the senior category it’s not that easy to make the transition. Shmeleva is coming up strongly in this category and won the European Open in Belgrade. This time Turchyn is completely back with another European title.

Ivana Sutalo of Croatia was clear and defeated Sebile Akbulut of Turkey in half a minute. After a few seconds she scored a wazari and made a successful transition for an oseikomi. Croatia finally took revenge on last year’s five lost finals, including one of Sutalo. She seemed to have found their way for instant success. Via the tall Yelyzaveta Kalanina (UKR) she progressed to the final and Sebile Akbulut couldn’t give Turkey a first gold medal for its new president. Nonetheless silver is the first medal for Turkey since 2013. The Croatians athletes and fans celebrated with loud cheers the gold for Sutalo. She had to take this opportunity and did it even in 32 seconds. She put up Croatia among the eleven winning nations at this championships.