Michopoulos European champion in U21, “bronze” Dimitrakopoulos

With Sotiris Michopoulos conquering the top of Europe, Filippos Dimitrakopoulos occupying the 3rd place, and Melina Georgiou taking the 5th place, the curtain fell for the Greek Olympic taekwondo in Bucharest, the curtain of the European U21 championship.

Michopoulos, who traveled to the Romanian capital as a member of the national A team because of the gold medal he had won in the Panhellenic youth championships, reached the biggest honor of his career, after the bronze he had won at the European Youth Championships in 2017 in Budapest . With four victories in as many matches, including the one against Dimitrakopoulos, in the semi-finals, Michopoulos was crowned European champion, giving our country the 5th gold medal in the history of the event. At the same time, Dimitrakopoulos made it back to back in the medals of the European U21 championship. Bronze last year in Tirana, bronze again this year in Bucharest, thanks to the two victories he scored in a total of three races.

After two consecutive victories, Michopoulos and Dimitrakopous met in the match for their entry into the final. Michopoulos won with a score of 2-1, just as it happened in the final of the Panhellenic championship a few months ago, organized by the Hellenic Taekwondo Federation at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. In the final, Michopoulos easily defeated Moldovan Dragos Marinescu 2-0, raising the Greek flag to the highest mast of the Sala Polivalenta in Bucharest.

As for Georgiou, she took 5th place at -46 kg. The No-1 in the European ranking reached the quarter-finals with two wins, only to be defeated 2-1 in the match of the 5th group by Azera Hassanzadeh.

Greece completed its presence at the European Championship with one gold, one silver and one bronze medal, reaching 35 medals in the history of the event.