Turkey surprises at EYOF Croatia celebrates gold for Puljiz

At the first day of the European Youth Olympic Festival Azerbaijan celebrated the first gold medal in judo. Azerbaijani judoka Turan Bayramov has claimed a gold medal at the 15th Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Baku. He sealed the medal after beating Russian Rizvan Magomadov in the 60kg final by ippon. Cypriot Georgios Balarjishvili and Estonian Viljar Lipard took bronze medals.

Turkey though was the most successful nation so far with two gold medals. Berat Bahadir defeated Belgian surprise Robbe Demets in the final for men U55kg. Azerbaijani judo fighter Shukran Zamanli has won bronze.

In the beautiful hall Nika Bachiashvili of Georgia won the first gold medal for men U50kg. Bachiashvili overcame Alexandru Matei of Romania in the final. Romania was also a surprising strong country with a gold medal for Giorgia Hagianu for girls U40kg. The field was not super strong with just 6 athletes.

Merve Azak of Turkey captured the first gold medal of the day for her country. Azak secured the gold after she won against Anastasiia Balaban of Bulgaria. Gulshan Bashirova of Azerbaijan was one of the three medals for the home nation that organized the World Championships judo for seniors last year.

Croatia celebrated gold for Anna Viktorija Puljiz in the girls U48kg category. This is a strong category where some of the favourites didn’t make it to the semi-finals. Puljiz overcame strong Portuguese outlet Raquel Brito in the final by wazari. Celine Dierickx captured Belgiums second medal of the day despite her loss against Puljiz in the semis. Brito defeated Carlotta Avanzato of Italy who also won bronze. It was the second ever gold medal for Croatia at the EYOF. Brigita Matic won gold in 2011 in Croatia and became Youth Olympic Games winner in 2014. For Brito it was the second silver this season as at the Europeans she lost the final to Scutto (ITA). Puljiz won bronze in Warsaw but was the winner here in Baku.