Kerem Primo follows sister Gefen with EYOF title

Just like older sister Gefen Primo, also Kerem Primo claimed the European Youth Olympic title. In Banska Bystrica Kerem Primo captured the gold medal in her category U63kg. Primo defeated Hungarian youngster Adel Kelemen of Hungary in the final. On the third day of the judo tournament at the EYOF, four different countries won a gold medal, for all countries their first.

Sister Gefen was also 17 when she won the EYOF title in 2017 in Gyor. She achieved some major wins such as the Grand Slam in Paris and Grand Prix victory in Montreal and a precious bronze medal at the World Championships in Budapest. That outlook is now for Kerem Primo but four years later at the same age. Sara Corbo (ITA) and Nele Noack (GER) secured a bronze medal U63kg.

Sweden continues to rely on a new generation of successful judokas. Today history was written by Ingrid Nilsson (SWE) who captured the first ever EYOF title in the history of her country. In the weight class U70kg she opened a whole new era with her and European cadet champion Tara Babulfuth as exponents. In the final U70kg she defeated Austria’s Elena Dengg but also for the Austrian’s this EYOF brings new opportunities. In this class Nika Koren (SLO) and Nino Gulbani (GEO) took a bronze medal.

What about Ukraine that again shows to have top athletes in each age category. On this third day in Slovakia Stanislav Korchemliuk proved to be ready for the next level. In the final U81kg he defeated Ismayil Zamanov (AZE) in this tough and competitive category with 31 young men. Matiss Zeila (LAT) and Gor Karapetyan (ARM) took bronze medals, also not from the dominating judo countries, which brings the number of medal winning countries now at 20.

Serbia cheered for another medal, gold this time. Miljan Radulj (SRB) caught the gold medal against Slovenia’s Nik Purnat U90kg. Radulj  who caught a silver medal last month at the European Cup in Banja Luka may not have been the number one favourite, despite his bronze medal at the Cadet Europeans last year, and one year later he showed to have grown and ticked all the boxes of mature judo. Archil Mamulashvili (GEO) and Rares Arsenie (ROU) picked up the bronze medals in this class.

So far two Cadet European Champions of this year also claimed the EYOF title: Fidan Alizada (AZE) and Vera Wandel (NED).