Judo fever is raging in Croatia’s capital ZAGREB. To celebrate, the leading Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji List featured a blue judo belt on its front page. Hashime! The EUROPEAN JUDO CHAMPIONSHIPS premiere has been running since 10.30am on Thursday. No fewer than seven world number one rankings, four Olympic champions, 17 world champions and 35 European champions are competing for world ranking points and European Championship medals. The Croatian hosts are sending four judoka into the competition on the first of four days. Ana Viktorija PULJIZ is considered to have the best chances (on d ..read more

On the eve of the Senior European Judo Championships 2024, the Croatian Judo team came together for a collective training session where media were invited. Hosted in the ballroom of the Westin Hotel, the coaching staff and 20-strong team were getting in to the championship mindset, minus a couple of athletes who were in the weigh in process, There were big wins for Team Croatia in 2024, setting them up for a successful Championships in the capital City of Zagreb, one of those with tremendous accolades this year was Katarina KRISTO in the -63kg category, a silver medal in the Paris Grand Slam ..read more

The refereeing meeting for the European Championships Senior Zagreb 2024 took place this afternoon. However, last week, the referees’ ranking list was temporarily frozen and final selections were made for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, which was one of the main talking points, indicating we can expect a top-class refereeing package in Croatia. Attendees included Europe’s top 16 referees, IJF Head Referee Director, Mr Armen BAGDASAROV; EJU Head Referee Director, Mr. Alexandr JATSKEVITCH; EJU Head Referee Commissioners: Mr. Franc OCKO and Ms. Cathy MOUETTE ; EJU R ..read more

Tomorrow will not only bring the first day of the European Judo Championships Seniors Zagreb 2024 but the opening day of the EJU Kids Camp 2024, held also in Zagreb. Over 1100 children from 30 countries will join in unity to learn and to share their knowledge. Each day of the camp will be divided into two sections, a morning judo session and an afternoon session filled with several activities such as Fair play workshop and creative DIY ventures. Children will also be exposed to demonstrative exercises with the rescue services to learn how to react in an emergency such as flood, earthquake and ..read more

The Senior European Judo Championships 2024 will commence tomorrow on the 25th of April, kickstarting the three-day individual competition and concluding with the greatly anticipated Mixed Team event on the 28th. Before the official draw was conducted by the Vice President of the European Judo Union, Mr Hrvoje LINDI, welcome words were given by President of the European Judo Union, Dr. TOTH Laszlo. Two years ago, we spoke for the first time with Prime Minister Andrej PLENKOVIC about the possibility of organising the first European Judo Senior Championships in Croatia. Now this dream is becom ..read more

In 2021, the European Judo Championships were held in Lisbon, Portugal. Not all who would compete in Tokyo later that summer were competing in the European major championships, in fact, some were still dying for the prestigious position in the Olympic Games. Two of the fourteen champions in Lisbon, went on to make history and take glory in Tokyo; Lasha BEKAURI (GEO) and Distria KRASNIQI (KOS). For the young Georgian, there was a great deal of pressure to succeed in the European Championships as this win would decided who would have the Olympic spot between himself and Beka GVINIASHVILI, incred ..read more

Although this week Zagreb is hosting the 73rd edition for men and 50th edition for women of the senior Europeans, for some it will be their very first time competing at such a prestigious event. Even the likes of Paris Grand Slam 2024 winner, Faiza MOKDAR (FRA) is amongst the premieres. What of their own feelings and expectations?   Faiza MOKDAR (FRA/-57kg) I feel the urge to go and fight at my first senior Europeans. I want to enjoy it, fight by fight. I want to win, I want the gold medal. Paris is behind me, I don’t think about it anymore. Every competition is different, yo ..read more

While the Georgian men may be leading in the heavyweight categories on the third and final day of the individual competition, Israels leading ladies; Inbar LANIR and Raz HERSHKO are running the show in the -78kg and +78kg categories.  Lanir is the reigning World and IJF Masters Champion from 2023 but is still vying for her podium spot this year, Given her ability to perform on the major championship stage, this could very well be her ticket back. In the previous European Championships, she was only defeated by the eventual champion, Alina BOEHM (GER) who managed to defend her 2022 title a ..read more

Author: Italian Judo On the second day of competitions in Lignano, the performance of the Georgian athletes impressed, bringing home two gold medals with Luka JAVAKHISHVILI in the -81kg category and Saba KARDAVA in the +100kg category, along with Giorgi LOLADZE’s victory on Day 1 in the -73kg category. The three gold medals earned the Team Georgia the victory of the Tarcento Trophy, a local award given to the national team that achieves the highest number of gold medals in the men’s medal tally. The final of the -81kg category was decisive, featuring a spectacular match between Luka JAVAKHISHV ..read more

On the second day of the Senior European Championships 2024, there will only be four weight categories competing, however they are the most populated. Sporting the greatest number are the men’s -73kg category. Eyes will be on defending European Champion, an individual with three senior titles, U23, junior and cadet accolades, not to mention the top position in the world ranking list, Hidayat HEYDAROV (AZE). In his past five events, four gold medals came his way, and the 26 year-old has  only been on the rise. He will however, have to compete against some of the best in the world to take a ..read more