Another gold medal, in a career full of titles and distinctions, will be claimed by Giorgos Tzanos. The 33-year-old Karate champion qualified for the +84k KUMITE final of the Guadalajara European Championship and on Saturday (25/3) he will face the French Mehdi Filali for first place. On his way to the final, Janos defeated Romanian Tsiprian (8-0), Bosnian Bostandzic (1-0), Croatian Kvesic (1-0) and in the semi-final Turkish Fatih Sen (2-0).
Tzanos’ achievement was not the only Greek success on the first day of the event, as two other members of the Greek delegation qualified for the “small” finals of their categories:
Konstantinos Mastrogiannis (-84k) will have the opportunity to claim his first medal at the men’s level. Putting in impressive performances, he won his pool with wins over Marques (Luxembourg, 2-1), Minea (Romania, 1-0) and Sadikoffs (Latvia, 3-0). He lost in the semi-final to the Italian Martina (1-3) and so in the repechage final he will face Slovakian Andi Juric.
19-year-old Konstantina Chrysopoulou, dominant in the Junior and Young Women’s categories, is doing just as well in the Women’s category. After two wins and one loss, she found herself in the semi-final repechage where she easily overcame the obstacle of McNab (Scotland, 5-0) and thus on Saturday she will claim the bronze medal against France’s Laura Siver.
Finally, the appearance of Georgina Xenou was again highly satisfactory. In the very demanding conditions of the KATA, the champion of Odysseus Petroupolis entered the top eight and took 7th place.
The games continue today with the participation of the rest of the Greek athletes. Team KUMITE takes place tomorrow (24/3) and the finals on the weekend (25 & 26 March).
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