The Ukrainian national team won the 2022 IBSA Judo European Championships’ race for gold with four medals, four more of silver, and one of bronze. The competition took place, for the last two days at PalaPirastu Sports Palace, in Cagliari (Italy), and gathered 92 judokas from 20 countries. Turkey comes in second with three gold medals, three silver, and two bronze. France came third with two gold medals, two silver, and one bronze. From the 20 participating countries, 16 got medals (80%).

Italy and Turkey were the countries which won more medals (11), followed by Ukraine (10), and Georgia and France (8).

Day 2 was reserved for the heavy-weight categories: -90kg and +90kg (J1 and J2) for men; and -70kg and +70kg (J1 and J2) for women.

The veteran Azerbaijani judoka, Ilham Zakiyev, 42 years old, twice gold Paralympic medalist (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008), confirmed his leader status and got another European title (eight times), paving the way to get the third world title in Baku next November.

# Accessibility – Ilham Zakiyev receives his eighth European gold medal of his career after more than 30 years of competing

#Accessibility – Helios Latchoumanaya of France competes on the tatami for gold (J2-90kg) against Oleksndr Nazarenko of Ukraine

In the women’s competition, the Swedish judoka Nicolina Pernheim got back to the European title after three wins in a row (2009, 2011 and 2013), conquering her fourth European gold medal in Cagliari. She defeated Esmer Taskin (Turkey) in the final, both frequent presences in the 2022 Grand Prix. Anastasiia Harnyk of Ukraine won gold in the J1 +70kg category and got emotional on the podium. The Italian Carolina Costa won the European title in the J2 +70kg category in the final against the French judoka Prescillia Leze, a victory very much cheered once she was playing at home.

#Accessibility – Women’s podium for J1 -70kg: Nicolina Pernheim (SWE), Esmer Taskin (TUR), and Theodora Paschalidou (GRE)

#Accessibility – Emotional Anastasiia Harnyk in the podium with her gold medal listening the national anthem of Ukraine

#Accessibility – The Italian judoka Carolina Costa, gold medal in J2 +70kg category, congratulated by IBSA President, Sandro di Girolamo

Check all the results of the competition:

Men
J1 -60kg
1.º Abdurrahim Ozalp (TUR)
2.º Miguel Vieira (POR)
3.º Ismayil Muradov (AZE)

J1 -73kg
1.º Alex Bologa (ROM)
2.º Lennart Sass (GER)
3.º Dong Dong Camanni (ITA)
3.º Djibrilo Iafa (POR)

J2 -60kg
1.º Davyd Khorava (UKR)
2.º Zurab Zurabiani (GEO)
3.º Nukri Migrijanashvili (GEO)
3.º Luis Gavilan (SPA)

J2 -73kg
1.º Giorgi Kaldani (GEO)
2.º Nathan Petit (FRA)
3.º Osvaldas Bareikis (LTU)
3.º Namig Abasli (AZE)

J1 -90kg
1.º Oleg Cretul (MDA)
2.º Gokhan Bicer (TUR)
3.º Yasin Cimciler (TUR)
3.º Zakir Mislimov (AZE)

J1 +90kg
1.º Ilham Zakiyev (AZE)
2.º Yurii Marchenko (UKR)
3.º Ion Basoc (MDA)
3.º Romuald Raboteur (FRA)

J2 -90kg
1.º Helios Latchoumanaya (FRA)
2.º Oleksander Nazarenko (UKR)
3.º Lasha Kizilashvili (GEO)
3.º Dmytro Solovey (UKR)

J2 +90kg
1.º Ibrahim Bolukbasi (TUR)

Women
J1 -48kg
1.º Nataliya Nikolaychyk (UKR)
2.º Emmanouela Masourou (GRE)
3.º Alessandra Spampinato (ITA)

J1 -57kg
1.º Anzhela Havrysiuk (UKR)
2.º Asia Giordano (ITA)
3.º Vanessa Wagner (GER)
3.º Merve Uslu (TUR)

J2 -48kg
1.º Sandrine Martinet (FRA)
2.º Yuliia Ivanytska (UKR)
3.º Carmen Brussig (SUI)

J2 -57kg
1.º Zeynep Celik (TUR)
2.º Inna Sych (UKR)
3.º Jelena Breskovic (CRO)

J1 -70kg
1.º Nicolina Pernheim (SWE)
2.º Esmer Taskin (TUR)
3.º Theodora Paschalidou (GRE)

J1 +70kg
1.º Anastasiia Harnyk (UKR)
2.º Nazan Hakin Gunes (TUR)
3.º Kathira Ismiyeva (AZE)

J2 -70kg
1.º Ina Kaldani (GEO)

J2 +70kg
1.º Carolina Costa (ITA)
2.º Prescillia Leze (FRA)
3.º Dursadaf Karimova (AZE)