Slovenian juniors continue the tradition of Slovenian success in the under 63 kg category. Ilariia Tsurkan and Neža Mesiček, seeded second and fourth respectively, received byes in the opening round of the Junior European Cup.
Tsurkan then defeated a Brazilian representative in the second round with a quick armlock, while Mesiček overcame a home judoka with an attractive throw for ippon. In the round of 16, Tsurkan beat her Romanian opponent by yuko, while Mesiček defeated her Israeli opponent by waza-ari. Tsurkan then also defeated the Israeli judoka in the quarter-final, while Mesiček was better than her Georgian opponent.
Both Slovenian representatives then faced Brazilian opponents in the semi-finals, with the Slovenian judoka coming out on top in both Slovenian-Brazilian contests. After a very evenly matched contest with no score in regular time, Neža Mesiček threw Laryssa Fonseca with a body technique for yuko after 20 seconds of golden score and celebrated a place in the final. Ilariia Tsurkan needed a little more time to secure her victory. Her contest also produced no points in regular time, and the golden score stretched into the tenth minute before Manuela Maia received a decisive third penalty, sending Ilariia into the final.
Penalties also decided the winner of the all-Slovenian final. After a minute and a half, Ilariia received the first penalty for a false attack. After Neža put together several consecutive attacks, Ilariia received her second penalty 15 seconds before the end of regular time. It was all over after half a minute of golden score, when Ilariia received a third penalty for a defensive posture and the final was decided.
Neža thus celebrated her first victory at the Junior European Cups, while Ilariia added a fourth silver medal from competitions of this level to her collection.
Paulina Selan also competed in the same category as Mesiček and Tsurkan, finishing her competition in the first round. Tim Pipan also fell in the opening round in the under 60 kg category.
Seven more Slovenian representatives will compete in Graz on the second competition day.
Photo: EJU - Oliver Sellner
