Russia Feels Gold Rush at Judo European Championships

The Russian delegation took home four gold medals from the competition in Great Britain. 21 Nov 2011 By IPC

Russia won four gold medals and Ukraine won three at last weekend’s Judo European Championships in Crawley, Great Britain, while Azerbaijan and Great Britain finished atop the podium twice.

In addition to finishing just ahead of Turkey to claim first place in the men’s team competition, Russia also won individual gold via top performances from Vladimir Fedim in the men’s -100kg, Olga Zabrodskaya in the women’s -70kg and Irina Kalyanova in the women’s +70kg.

Ukraine’s Dmytro Solovey struck gold in the men’s -73kg, while Oleksandr Kosinov won the men’s -81kg and Yuliya Halinska won the women’s -48kg.

Host nation Great Britain had winning performances from Ben Quilter in the men’s -60kg and Sam Ingram in the men’s -90kg. Ingram rose to the top after defeating defending Paralympic Games champion Oleg Kretsul of Russia in the semi-finals.

For Azerbaijan, Bayram Mustafayev won the men’s -66kg and Ilham Zakiyev won the men’s +100kg.