Georgian junior judokas triumph at European Championship

A group of junior Georgian judoka have triumphed at a top European tournament and returned home with almost a dozen medals.

The Georgian junior team gained three gold, three silver and five bronze medals in male, female and team categories at the 2015 Cadet European Championships in Bulgaria.

The European Judo Union praised the Georgian athletes’ performances as impressive and said with this result, Georgia had "claimed a new page in judo history”.

Mzia Beroshvili was Georgia’s only female to win a gold medal at the prestigious tournament. She gained top spot in the individual 53kg category after defeating opponents from Israel, Italy, Croatia, Russia and Austria.

Mariam Chanturia Georgia’s second female to gain a medal; she finished third in the individual 57kg category.

Georgia’s male judokas gained a raft of medals – one gold, three silver and four bronze - in the individual male competition.

Additionally, in the junior team competition the Georgian side earned the top spot as European Champions after winning by a large margin over the Netherlands in the final match with a score of 4:1.

In the team competition the gold medal among men was won by Lasha Dudashvili (73kg), silver medals were won by Giorgi Niazashvili (50kg), Goga Kevkhishvili (81kg) and Zaur Kenchadze (90kg), while bronze medals were won by Robinzon Belgarashvili (60kg), Bagrat Niniashvili (66kg), Onise Sanebelidze (90kg) and Gela Zaalashvili (+90kg).

Dudashvili’s performance was deemed to be one of the most remarkable of the tournament. He earned nine victories throughout the tournament; seven on which he scored an Ippon (the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese-style martial arts contest).

"It is a fantastic achievement we are absolutely delighted … really, really happy,” head coach of the Georgian junior male team Mindia Bodaveli told European Judo Union.

"We came here to win and the team trained hard for it. It is great and now we will be aiming for gold at the Cadet World Team event too,” he said.