In this particular year preceding the Olympic race, these European Championships held in Novi Sad, Serbia (May 10th-13th) have shown that "small" nations have increasingly improved. But “big” ones, such as Spain and Italy, also showed that they are back on top in Kumite. Revelations and confirmations...

By Fournier Florian

Photo: K-Photos

The hero

She is the princess of these Championships. Switzerland’s Elena Quirici won two Gold medals, as Turkey’s Burak Uygur. But, contrary to him, she was not supposed to be in Novi Sad. Injured at her feet, she had a surgery last February and should have been forfeited. But Elena Quirici won her 2^nd European title in -68 kg and also the team competition.

The revelation

U21 World champion, Italy’s Martina is the revelation of this competition. European champion in the -84 kg division, he is likely to be a serious candidate for Tokyo. But he will have to confirm this great performance in K1.

Confirmations

Who still doubted about it ? Rafael Aghayev is undeniably the king of Karate. In the -75 kg, the Azerbaijan fighter won an 11th European title, a performance hailed by all karatekas. But, this time, he is not the only to have enlightened the championship. Turkey’s Burak Uygur, European Champion in 2017 (-67 kg), retained his title in Serbia. A performance to write in capital letters when we know that this category is the one of Hungary’s Harspataki, Ukraine’s Horuna, Italy’s Busa and France’s Steven Da Costa.
On the women's side, four girls confirmed their top rank. France's Anne-Laure Florentin and Lucie Ignace gave their country the only two titles in the competition with their third gold medal. Note that the first one has made a hat-trick (three titles in a row). Besides, Ukraine’s Terliuga, World N°1, who never won gold until then, finally conquered the title that she was missing. Last confirmation, if it needs to, Turkey’s Serap Ozcelik (-50 kg) wins her third title.

Deceptions

He was the favorite in the heavyweight division. But the five-times European champion, Germany’s Jonathan Horne lost at the 1^st round against Croatia’s Klepic (the upcoming winner). The German fighter finished 5th. Same story for France’s Steven Da Costa in the -67 kg, who lost in the first round. France’s Alizee Agier, World n°2, winner in Paris and Dubai this year, also bowed in the first round, s her teammate, the World champion Emily Thouy (-61 kg).

The technicians

Undisputed favorites in Kata, Spain’s Damian Quintero and Sandra Sanchez Jaime have settled all the competition. Whether for men or women, no surprise is to be reported, except the final for the male Russian team.

Results

Women :

+68kg :
Gold: Anne-Laure Florentin (Fra)
Silver: Eleni Chatziliadou (Gre)
Bronze: Laura Palacio (Esp) and Anamarija Celan (Cro)

-68kg :
Gold : Elena Quirici (Sui)
Silver : Irina Zaretska (Aze)
Bronze : Ivona Cavar (Bos) and Silvia Semeraro (Ita)

-61kg :
Gold : Lucie Ignace (Fra)
Silver : Anita Serogina (Ukr)
Bronze : Merve Coban (Tur) and Tjasa Ristic (Slo)

-55kg :
Gold: Anzhelika Terliuga (Ukr)
Silver : Alesandra Hasani (Cro)
Bronze: Sara Cardin (Ita) and Tuba Yakan (Tur)

-50kg :
Gold : Serap Ozcelik (Tur)
Silver : Bettina Plank (Aut)
Bronze: Alexandra Recchia (Fra) and Nurana Aliyeva (Aze)

Kata :
Gold : Sandra Sanchez Jaime (Esp)
Silver : Viviana Bottaro (Ita)
Bronze : Dilara Eltemur (Tur) and Dorota Balciarova (Svk)

Kumite Team :
Gold : Suisse
Silver : Italie
Bronze : France and Croatie

Kata team :

Gold : Italie
Silver : Espagne
Bronze : France and Turquie

Men:

+84kg:

Gold: Ivan Klepic (Bos)
Silver: Sahahin Atamov (Aze)
Bronze: Tyron-Darnell Lardy (Ner) and Gogita Arkania (Geo)

-84kg:

Gold: Michele Martina (Ita)
Silver: Ivan Kvesic (Cro)
Bronze: Helio Hernandez (Por) and Ugur Aktas (Tur)

-75kg :

Gold : Rafael Aghayev (Aze)
Silver : Gabor Harspataki (Hun)
Bronze: Luigi Busa (Ita) and Stanislav Horuna (Ukr)

-67kg:

Gold: Burak uygur (Tur)
Silver : Stefan Joksic (Ser)
Bronze : Yves Martial Tadissi (Hun) and Stefan Pokorny (Aut)

-60kg:

Gold: Emil Pavlov (Mkd)
Silver : Angelo Crescenzo (Ita)
Bronze: Evgeny Plakhutin (Rus) and Kalvis Kalnins (Lat)

Kata:

Gold : Damian Quintero (Esp)
Silver : Ali Sofuoglu (Tur)
Bronze: Mattia Busato (Ita) and Roman Heydarov (Aze)

Kumite team:

Gold: Turquie
Silver: Espagne
Bronze: Ukraine and Serbie

Kata team :

Gold : Espagne
Silver : Russie
Bronze : Italie and Turquie

 Nations ranking :

• Spain (3 or ; 2 silver ; 1 bronze)
• Turkey (3 ; 1 ; 6)
• Italy (2 ; 3 ; 5)
• France (2 ; 0 ; 3)
• Switzerland (2 ; 0 ; 0)
• Azerbaïdjan (1 ; 2 ; 2)
• Ukraine (1 ; 1 ; 2)
• Bosnie-Herzégovine (1 ; 0 ; 1)
• Macédonia (1 ; 0 ; 0)
• Croatia (0 ; 2 ; 2)