France Pip Spain To The Post
Autor: Thea Cowen
Zuerst veröffentlicht bei / First published at: France Pip Spain To The Post
It was a very exciting weekend in Spain during the La Nucia European Open with top stars descending on the sunny coastline to compete for a title and some ranking points. In the end, France were top of the medal table, followed by hosts Spain and Ukraine.
Opening the final block on day two of the La Nucia European Open 2025 were the -81kg men, and today saw the first gold medal go outside of Europe. Kazakhstan’s Adilet ALMAT took victory over Timo CAVELIUS (GER) scoring a title-winning waza ari, Cavelius attempted a drop seoi nage which Almat stepped around, only to throw with uchi mata.
Sarah ISCHT (GER) and Marine GILLY (FRA) went head to head for the -48kg gold but neither were able to land a score, however Ischt was the more positive of the two, resulting in three shidos awarded to Gilly.
The one everyone was waiting for, the -90kg final. Double Olympic Champion, Lasha BEKAURI (GEO) had demonstrated his world-class abilities throughout the preliminary rounds in front of a tremendous Georgian following and fans alike, and faced home favourite, Daniel NIETO TRINIDAD (ESP). It was short lived, Bekauri fuelled by his people, scored ippon with a ko uchi, o uchi gari combination in only nine seconds!
It was an all-French affair for the -52kg category between Lea BERES and Leanie GONZALEZ. As expected, it was a tough contest, and not until the third minute did Gonzalez find the entry to score with uchi mata and eventually take the gold.
Alike Bekauri, the -100kg final had the same allure with Georgian-born Spanish representative, Nikoloz SHERAZADISHVILI. This was a more even contest against Piotr KUCZERA (POL), the pair having a 1:1 record before today, albeit it, the previous contests were in major championships. Regardless, both gave there all but it was an o goshi from Sherazadishvili that brought home the second gold medal for Spain.
Adding to France’s medal haul was Chloe DEVICTOR in the -57kg category, defeating Shannon VAN DE MEEBERG (NED). A waza ari score was taken with a tani otoshi by the French athlete, and though Van De Meeberg gave her all, and even managed to claw back with uchi mata, scoring yuko, she wasn’t able to level the playing field and settled for silver.
The +100kg finale certainly delivered with top seed Yevheniy BALYEVSKYY taking top spot on the podium for Ukraine. It wasn’t an easy ride for him however, with Movli BORCHASHVILLI (AUT) taking him in to golden score, but a launching ko soto gari was the difference between gold and silver today.
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