19.08.2024 / News

Combat shake-up: a judo tournament among juniors took place in St. Petersburg

Women in this sport will receive a lot of attention throughout 2024, as the 40th anniversary of domestic women's judo is celebrated. In the anniversary year, the “Russian Judo Tour” was organized in four cities, only girls entered the tatami.

The EJF Council, inspired by the history of victories of compatriots judokas at world championships, is organizing a celebration and meeting with eminent athletes from Russia and abroad at the IV Eurasian Women's Forum. Session participants will talk about turning points in their sports careers and lives. The fates of medalists at the World Championships and Olympics sometimes develop in surprising ways. For example, British Jane Bridge worked as a bodyguard for Sylvester Stallone and Alain Delon.

At the St. Petersburg Challenge tournament on August 18, awards were drawn for athletes under 23 years of age in 7 weight categories. Most of the gold medals were won by judokas who had previously won at Russian and international competitions: Marina Vorobyova from Ryazan, Liliya Nugaeva from the Saratov region, Alina Kugaeva from Moscow, Ksenia Galitskaya from Tuapse. Kristina Lepeshkova from Samara and Kristina Konovalova from Ryazan won their first sports “gold” at these competitions.

Medals decorated with pink sakura branches were made especially for the competition in St. Petersburg; the fight hall and even the scoreboard were decorated with the same decor. The struggle for “girlish” insignia in the atmosphere of the spring garden was sharp and dramatic. Thus, the judges rated Ksenia Galitskaya’s performance as “ippon” - the term means a clear victory, a demonstration by the athlete of complete control and superiority over the opponent. And Alina Kugaeva’s performance was awarded the “waza-ari” rating (a series of well-calibrated techniques that determined the outcome of the fight).

The tournament was held according to a mixed system and allowed the judokas to get a good fighting shake-up at the beginning of the new season, the mentors summarized. The tournament in St. Petersburg brought together a strong line-up of participants, there were no passing matches, all the leaders took to the tatami: medalists of the main Russian competitions Yulia Semikolenova, Lana Filkina, Anastasia Barabash. As FDR sports director Kirill Denisov noted, at the tournament both the leaders proved their advantage, and the young athletes showed an increase in skill.

The winners of the tournament were congratulated by the Chairman of the Council of the Eurasian Women's Forum, Senator Galina Karelova.

— Judo is more than a sport. Its first principle is mutual assistance and understanding to achieve greater progress: this is what our forum is practically dedicated to. Congratulations to all the winners. We are waiting for them at the IV Eurasian Women’s Forum, where the awards ceremony will take place,” she said.