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The World's greatest judoka won as junior in Bremen

The World's greatest judoka won as junior in Bremen

18 Mar 2016 10:40
IJF Media Team / International Judo Federation

This weekend the international Masters in Bremen will be held. Bremen is an incredible strong Junior and Cadet tournament where the current stars of senior judo have competed in the past. Did you know that only two men have ever won the tournament twice?

Latvian Vladimirs Osnachs won the Bremen Masters in 2005 and 2007 as Junior and Dutchman Neal van de Kamer won twice in 2007 and 2008. Only a few men have won three junior medals in Bremen, one of them included a gold medal: Marvin de la Croes (NED). It looks the Dutch are good in Bremen but they won just 7 gold medals, the real competitive nations are Japan, Germany and Kazachstan.  World Champion Takanori Nagase was one of the winners in 2012, just 3.5 years before he became World Champion. Mashu Baker, the world’s bronze medallist won Bremen in 2013.

Kazach World Champion Yeldos Smetov won Bremen as junior in 2010, two year older Askhat Telmanov won in 2008. Of the top German athletes Sven Maresch (2006) and Sven Heinle (2011) are on the winners list.

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