The Greek kids made us proud as they won 13 medals on the first day, the most of any other country! Three of them were indeed gold, while in the medal table after the first day, Greece is 2nd in the world behind the United Arab Emirates and ahead of superpowers France, Kazakhstan and Germany, among others.
The National Anthem was heard three times thanks to Dimitra Theodorou in -63k fighting, Varvara Agapitou in -70k fighting and Maria-Anastasia Sachinidis in -52k. fighting.
Our country won 3 silver and 7 bronze medals, while of the 3 medals, 12 came in U21, while Katerina -Styliani Sakati won the first medal in U18, as she took the bronze in +70k. of girls.
The positions of the Greeks in the premiere of the event
U21
-48k. girls fighting: 2nd Maria Sidira, 3rd Maria-Kalliopi Rizaki
-45k. girls fighting: 2nd Vasiliki Rizaki
-69 Mr. boys: 5th Stefanos Vavilis, 13th Andreas Notaras
-63 Mr. girls fighting: 1st Dimitra Theodorou, 3rd Eleni Karastratidou,
-62k boys: 7th Nikos Kontokostas
-52 Mr. girls fighting: 1st Maria-Anastasia Sahinidis, 5th Christina-Angeliki Stathis,
-77 Mr. boys: 9th Nikos Bakalexis, 17th Iasonas Kotzegiannidis
-57 Mr. girls fighting: 2nd Sofia Psyllaki, 7th Irini Anastasaki
-70k. girls fighting: 1st Varvara Agapitou, 3rd Ioanna Sergi
+70k. girls fighting: 3rd Panagiota Kehagia, 5th Eleni Papantoniou
Boys’ duo: 3rd Loukas Giannakoudakis – Stefanos Zantiotis, 7th Mavroyiannis-Mavroyiannis
Girls Duo: 5th Ball -Triangle
Show mixed: 3rd Vetseridis-Vetseridis, 5th Moutafis – Simintzi
U18
-52 Mr. girls: 5th Polyxeni-Elene Efthimiou, 7th Areti Siakavella,
-63 Mr. girls: 7th Antonia Kalligiannakis, 17th Konstantina Paschakis
-48k girls: 9th Maria Kausia
-70k. girls: 9th Christina-Labrini Vergou, 13th Maria Mourouzidou
-57 Mr. girls: 13th Maria Diakogeorgiou, 13th Athena Sinclair
+70k. girls: 3rd Katerina-Styliani Sakati, 7th Dimitra-Dionysia Marenti
*Co-organizers of the games are the Ministry of Sports and the Region of Crete, while the World Championships are held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and the Municipality of Heraklion. The communication sponsor of the games is the Athenian Macedonian News Agency, TV Creta and Creta24.gr.
“Warm” Applause at the opening ceremony
With a modest but beautiful ceremony, the official opening ceremony of the Jiu-Jitsu World Championship for the U21, U18 and U16 categories took place in Dyo Aorakia, in Heraklion, Crete.
With the flags of the 67 countries participating in the event parading and our national anthem playing over the loudspeakers, the trigger was given for the second part of the great celebration of sports on the beautiful island of Crete.
The ceremony was attended by, among others, mayors and deputy mayors from the prefecture of Heraklion, deputy regional governors, representatives of the Hellenic Police, the ambassador of the UAE, the MP and former Deputy Minister of Sports, Lefteris Avgenakis and of course the president of the Greek Federation, Ziou Zitsou, Maria Haritopoulou, as well as members of the management of EFEO Ziou Zitsou.
During the ceremony, the former Deputy Minister of Sports and Member of Parliament Lefteris Avgenakis welcomed the athletes and all the delegations:
“We welcome you to Crete and Heraklion, which has hosted many events, with today’s being an unprecedented experience. We wish all the athletes good success, but also the organizing committee and the Greek federation to have organizational and competitive success. Congratulations to the president for the effort and every success. I wish you to return to your homelands and remember the place that hosted you, but also to see you again in Crete and outside of sports events”
Giorgos Pitsoulis, deputy regional governor for sports of Crete, said: “It is a great honor for us to hold such an event in Crete and I can only thank the president of the World Cup, but also the Greek federation for entrusting us with this event. I hope you have a good time and that the athletes will compete inside without injuries”
The Deputy Mayor of Heraklion in the field of sports, Yannis Tsapakis, emphasized in his turn: “On behalf of the Municipality of Heraklion, we welcome you and wish the athletes only success. This is the first time our city is hosting such a big sporting event and I want to continue to have such events in Heraklion. I personally thank the president of the Greek federation, as well as the president of the World Cup, for choosing Heraklion for this event”
Joachim Thumfart, Director General of the World Federation, welcomed the official guests, saying in his speech: “Dear sports family and distinguished guests, we are celebrating here the biggest World Championship we have ever organized, with 3,500 athletes and we are delighted that it is taking place here. We started to smile because we see new categories, pleasant surprises like the Canadian team, which shows that the Jiu Jitsu community is growing and we are happy about it. I have the pleasure of representing the president Panagiotis Theodoropoulos who unfortunately could not be at the stadium. I hope you enjoy the races and may the best in each category win.
Finally, the president of the Greek federation, Maria Haritopoulou, welcomed the delegations from all over the world and wished the Greek team good luck.
“Welcome to the enchanting and beautiful island of Crete. We welcome you to the World Championship and I want to thank the president of JJIF Mr. Panagiotis Theodoropoulos for the trust and the honor to organize this great event with 3,500 athletes from 67 countries of the world, on the beautiful island of Crete. I wish everyone the best results and good racing. I thank those who contribute to this great event for its realization and finally, to the Greek children, good strength and let us raise our flag high. Be well everyone”
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
