New judo heroes are made at European Cadet Championships

This week the European Championships for Cadets will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria. This event is of a particular importance for many reasons. First of all, it is a qualifier for the World Cadet Judo Championships in Sarajevo in August. Secondly, the cadet age group is the first and most challenging step to the higher level, and many young judoka have proved to become a champion such as Arsen Galstyan, Ilias Iliadis, Elnur Mammadli and from the past Angelo Parisi. They all won the Olympic title later in their careers.

Other superstars from Europe who won the world title are Neil Adams, who we know as IJF commentator and current World Champion Clarisse Agbegnenou who was European Cadet Champion in 2008.

Many of today’s judo stars, before reaching the international seniors highest level, shone when they were cadets.

The Bulgarian Judo Federation has a fine history of hosting international judo events: World Cups, the Junior European Judo Championship for juniors in 2004 and 2010, and the U23 European Judo Championships in 2013. This week news stars will shine.

Last year Russian won the medal table with four title, followed by Germany (3), France and Azerbaijan (2).

Russia was a strong team last year at the Cadet European Championships in Athens. This year they are held in Sofia. A strong Russian team took gold at the first day with Rustam Zabolotnyi, who was one of the four who brought golden celebration to the team. Zabolotnyi is back this year in Sofia to defend his title.

For Italy Michelle Fiorini of Italy who will be also aiming to claim another title in addition to her superb performance in the previous year. 

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