Day 3: Georgia wins two medals at Tbilisi 2015

After three days of competition at the Tbilisi 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), Georgia has won two medals.

Both medals were won in judo; the medal winners were two young athletes Zurab Kakhniashvili (50kg) and Temur Nozadze (55kg). Both athletes won bronze medals yesterday.

Nozadze gained third place after defeating Ugurcan Zehir of Turkey by yoko in a very close round.

Temur Nozadze won Georgia's second medal at the youth sporting competition. Photo from the Tbilisi 2015 EYOF website.

"I am very happy,” he said after the win.

"I had an extremely close fight and performed the winning throw just nine seconds before the end. I am not going to stop at this and try my best to win only gold.”

Meanwhile Kakhniashvili was the first Georgian to win a medal at the prestigious youth sporting competition. He defeated Davit Vopat of the Czech Republic in the 50kg weight category by waza-ari.

Zurab Kakhniashvili won Georgia's first medal at Tbilisi 2015. Photo from Tbilisi 2015 EYOF website. 

The Georgian judoka lost one round during the competition. He defeated Romanian Vlad Luncan in the eighth-final and overcame two opponents - Ionnis Agktzidis from Greece and Dutch Stevens Kielman - in the repecharge.

"It was a difficult round,” said Kakhniashvili.

"I am very happy to become the first medalist of the Georgian delegation. I will try my best to improve my results and gain only gold medals for my country.”

On the third day of competition, Russia had the highest number of medals (9), followed by Italy and Hungary (8 each) and Germany, Great Britain and Spain (5 each).

About 4,000 athletes from 50 countries will continue hunting for medals until the competition ends on August 1.