Judo Teams Keep Busy With European Tournaments
{mosimage}Like the freestyle wrestling team, the Mongolian judo team was kept busy with a series of international tournaments around Europe. The team exchanged experiences with the French team during four-days of training in Paris from January 11-14. From Paris, the team was divided into the men’s and women’s teams.
Like the freestyle wrestling team, the Mongolian judo team was kept busy with a series of international tournaments around Europe. The team exchanged experiences with the French team during four-days of training in Paris from January 11-14. From Paris, the team was divided into the men’s and women’s teams. The women’s team went to Budapest to compete in an annual international competition, while the men’s team headed to Vienna to compete in another annual international competition. D.Tserenkhand was the only wrestler who won a medal in the Budapest competition. He took home a bronze medal. The specialists and trainers hoped that the other experienced judokas, such as Kh.Erdenet-Od, P.Lkhamdegd and M.Bundmaa would win a medal from the competition, but they were disqualified before the final stages. A total of 228 judokas from 43 countries competed in this tournament.
In the women’s 48kg section, B.Bat-Erdene competed against the Israeli Judoka, Roni Schwarz, but according to the competition notations, the Mongolian judoka did not appear in the ring. 33 judokas competed in this weight section.
In the 52kg section, M.Bundmaa competed against Petra Nareks from Slovenia. Unfortunately, Bundmaa lost to her first opponent and had no other choice than to see her teammates compete. There were 36 participants in this weight section.
Kh.Erdenet-Od competed in the 57kg weight section. She did not beat her first opponent, Barbara Harel from France who later became the champion of this tournament. Even though her first opponent won the gold medal, Erdenet-Od still had a second chance to win the bronze medal in the repechage rounds. This time she faced Hedvig Karakash from Hungary. She had few problems and managed to beat the Hungarian easily. However, her next opponent was a tough one. This time she faced Juan Yaheira Aguire, but Erdenet-Od could not win the match and placed ninth from 32 judokas in her weight section.
In the 63kg section, B.Tumen-Od competed against Marinosci Marianna from Italy. Tumen Od dominated the match and managed to beat the Italian judoka. Her second meet was Yusubova Ramila from Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani judoka was a tough opponent for Tumen Od. However, she won the match in the end. Next, she faced Ylinen Johanna from Finland. This was her last match of the tournament as she lost to her third opponent. The Finnish judoka did not win the gold medal so there was no chance for Tumen Od to hope for a bronze medal. A total number of 43 judokas competed in this weight section.
In the under 78 kg section, P.Lkhamdegd managed to win her first opponent Levesque Marylise from Canada, but failed to beat her next opponent Verkerk Marhinde from the Netherlands. 34 judokas competed in Lkhamdegd’s weight section.
The only judoka who won a medal from this competition was D.Tserenkhand in the above 78kg section. Her first meet was Alonso Alicia from Spain. Tserenkhand was announced the winner as the time ended. She also managed to beat Gornicka Malgorzata of Poland in the second round and advanced to the third stage of the tournament. Unfortunately, Tserenkhand lost to Polavder Lucija from Slovenia. However, there was one more chance to win a medal. Tserenkhand tried hard in the repechage rounds and finally clinched the bronze by beating opponents from Brazil, Ecuador and France. There were 21 judokas in this section.
While the women were competing in Budapest, the men’s team was competing in Vienna. 317 judokas from 54 countries competed in this section. In the 60kg weight section, 40 judokas competed for the gold medal and B.Damlanpurev of Mongolia was one of them. His first opponent was Jammed Millar from England. His first opponent was not easy to defeat, but with extra time, Damlanpurev made a decisive trick and claimed victory. Next, he competed against Lun Borgstid from the Netherlands. Damlanpurev managed to win his two meets by a Wazari and advanced to the third stage of the tournament. This time, he faced Ludwig Peischer from Austria who won bronze and silver medals from the recent Judo world championships. In addition, the more experienced judoka Peischer, clearly dominated the match and managed to win Damlanpurev in only 45 seconds. Damlanpurev placed ninth.
In the 66kg section, D.Dolgoon who got a gold medal in last year’s state judo championship, competed with 49 other judokas. Unfortunately, he could not beat his first opponent Konisbae Shpanov from Kazakhstan and ended the tournament right after his first appearance in the ring. 56 judokas competed in the 73kg weight section. G.Dashdavaa from Mongolia competed in this section. His first meet was Damien Halding from Switzerland. Dashdavaa beat the Swiss judoka in the second half of the match and advanced to the second stage of the competition. However, he lost to his second opponent, Yezek from the Czech Republic just 3 seconds before the time ended. As the Czech judoka won the gold medal in this section, Dashdavaa wrestled again for the bronze medal in the repechage rounds. His first opponent in the repechage rounds was Akosh Braun from Hungary. There he managed to win his opponent with no big effort. However, he lost his second match to Georgi Georgiev from Bulgaria and could not clinch the bronze in his weight section.
In the 81-weight section, G.Khudermonkh lost his first match against Rajabli Elkhan from Azerbaijan and had no other choice than to support his teammates. 50 judokas competed in this weight section.
In the 91kg weight section, E.Erdenbileg advanced to the second stage by beating Bratov from Russia, but lost to He Yangzhou from China. There were 46 judokas in this weight section.
No Mongolians competed in the above and less than 100kg weight sections. The men’s team could not win any medals in this tournament, but the trainers and specialists noted that it was worth competing. As there were many younger judokas in the men’s team they certainly now know how hard it is to obtain a medal from international competitions like this one. So they did not won medals, but they gained something more important – experience.
Written by G.Ganbayar
The UB Post
