“Silver” Gogua at the European Cup in Podgorica, 3rd place for Kyvelides and Kostelides

The Greek judokas impressed at the U21 European Cup held in Montenegro. Three medals, two fifth and two seventh places, was the report for the new generation of the sport, which continues to impress at the international level and leaves much promise for the future. Marilena Gogua in the -48 kg of the Podgorica Junior European Cup 2024, won the silver medal, while Panagiotis Kyvelidis and Ioannis Kostelidis climbed to the third step of the winners’ podium in the -90 and +100 kg respectively. At the same time, Dimitris Georgiadis was 5th at -60kg, as was Alexandra Papagiannakis at -70kg, while the seventh place was taken by Evangelia Gavala (-52kg) and Galini Syrinidou (-63kg).

For both Gogua and Kyvelides, these were their first international medals at European Judo Union (EJU) events. Gogua, who three times in the last 13 months had reached the threshold of the winners’ podium at both U18 and U21 level, celebrated the silver medal by scoring two wins in three matches, while Kyvelidis, in one category where a total of 20 athletes participated, he needed four victories to be able to capture his maiden medal. It should be noted that the 18-year-old Kyvelidis, two years ago, was 5th in the U18 World Championship and 7th in the European Championship of the same age category.

As for Kostelidis, at the Podgorica event, he made sure to triple the medals he has won in EJU events. After the first place in the U18 European Cup in 2023 in Naples and the 3rd place in the U21 European Cup in Skopje also last year, he managed to hang the heavyweight bronze medal on his chest in the capital of Montenegro.

Georgiadis and Papagiannakis reached the repechage finals, however, remaining in 5th place (both had two wins in four races), while Gavalas and Syrinidou were ranked in the top seven of their categories.

The Greek team, from tomorrow until March 13, will remain in Podgorica in order to participate in an EJU training camp.