EYOF, Day 3: Judoka Beglarishvili Wins First Gold Medal for Georgia
The third day of the 13th European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi was very successful for Georgian judokas, with Robinzon Beglarishvili gaining the first gold medal along with another two bronze medalists from the host country.
Beglarishvili beat Italian Manuel Lombardo with waza-ari in the 60kg weight category. “I did not expect as much engagement of fans and extend them my thanks. It is nice that Georgia is hosting such an event for the first time. My opponent was strong but, nonetheless, I managed to beat him!” said the champion.
Georgians Natalia Kipshidze and Bagrat Niniashvili earned the bronze medals in judo. Kipshidze beat British opponent, Kiera Bateman, in the 48kg weight category with shido while Niniashvili beat his Azeri opponent, Pasha Aliyev, and brought a fifth medal for his country.
Unfortunately, three Georgian tennis players – Davit Chelidze, Ana Makatsaria and Ana Shanidze – dropped out the tournament, while Nikoloz Davlianidze is still in the game. Davlianidze defeated Annei Kaska from Belorussia 6:1 6:4 in the third round and will face Polish Rafal Michalski, who is one of the favorite candidates for gold in the quarterfinal.
The Georgian boys’ national basketball team took the third place in Group A and will not proceed with the competition for medals. The Georgian girls’ team was also defeated, by Belgium and also dropped out of the tournament.
A set of medals was awarded in the girls’ triple jump. Iuliana Georgiana Anitei from Romania had the best result – 13.5m. Enzo Hodebar from France won the gold medal in the boys’ long jump with his best result – 7. 32m, on the second attempt. The gold medal in the 1500 m race went to Kevin McGrath from Ireland. Merel Van Der Marel was the best among the girls in the same distance.
The Russian national team earned another gold medal with the help of its girls’ team, who were the best in artistic gymnastics and outstripped their main competitors from Belgium and Germany.
Johannes Hintze earned the first gold medal for the German delegation, taking victory in the 200m combined swimming with 2:02:52. While Nicolo Martinenghi gained a second gold medal for the Italian swimmers’ team in the 200m breaststroke swimming distance with 2:15:14. However, swimmers from Slovenia had the most success with Janja Segel winning the first gold medal for her country with a result of 56:62 in the girls’ 100m freestyle swimming following which Janja Jamsek became champion in the 200m backstroke, with a time of 2:16:75.
According to the latest results, the Italian national team is ahead of the Russians, leading with seven gold medals.
Photo showing Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili congratulates Georgian judoka Robinzon Beglarishvili.
Eka Karsaulidze