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Day Two - 21st of May 2005

Written by Barnaby Chesterman

After a slow start for the hosts on Friday, the Netherlands hit back with a vengeance on Saturday, winning two gold medals. They reigned supreme in the women’s categories, claiming both through Elisabeth Willeboordse and Edith Bosch. They also came close to winning medals in the two men’s divisions but Henry Shoeman and Guillaume Elmont came up just short, both losing in the semi-finals and then in the bronze medal fights. The men’s divisions were won by Hungary’s Akos Braun and Ole Bischof of Germany.

Women’s under 63kg

Olympic silver medallist Claudia Heill of Austria and 2002 European champion Lucie Decosse of France were the favourites at the beginning of the tournament but neither of them could withstand the tornado that was Elisabeth Willeboordse. The Dutch fighter had an early scare when she was pinned by Decosse in the first round but she never gave in and somehow managed to escape after just 16 seconds, losing only a yuko to her opponent. From then on the tide turned and Willeboordse scored waza-ari and then yuko to run out a convincing winner.

She seemed to be on an unstoppable charged towards the title and Poland’s Aneta Szczepanska, runner-up a year ago and at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, could not halt her, succumbing to juji-gatame. Next up was Russia’s Irina Gromova who proved a combative opponent but also went down. Willeboordse met a surprise package in the semi-final after Italian Giulia Quintavalle had stunned Britain’s Sarah Clark in the second round, throwing her for ippon. But she was no match for Willeboordse and she was thrown for ippon with te-guruma.

Heill had been unspectacular in reaching the final, sneaking past Finland’s Johanna Ylinen and Portugal’s Andreia Cavalleri. She could make no headway against Willeboordse despite seemingly dominating the grip and pressuring her opponent. The Dutch fighter struck twice, scoring yuko with tani-otoshi and koka with kosoto-gari. Heill always looked dangerous and capable but lacked the self belief to launch an all or nothing attack and limped to the finish for a fourth European medal (two silver and two bronze). Decosse took bronze after coming back through the repechage and beating Cavalleri by ippon with ouchi-gari. German Claudia Malzahn won her first European medal in defeating Quintavalle with tani-otoshi for ippon.

Men’s under 73kg

With reigning champion Kiyoshi Uematsu of Spain and Olympic silver medallist and former world champion Vitali Makarov of Russia missing from the draw, twice winner Gennadiy Bilodid of Ukraine was the clear favourite in this category. But he was eliminated in the first round by Netherlands’ Henry Shoeman and although given a reprieve in the repechage, he was quickly beaten again by Georgia’s David Kevkhishvili. Shoeman was buoyed by the home crowd and took some notable scalps, including Kevkhishvili, but was derailed at the semi-final stage by Yoel Razvozov of Israel, the runner-up from last year.

On the other side of the draw, there was an early match up between world silver medallist Daniel Fernandes of France and Latvia’s former Olympic medallist Vsevolods Zelonijs. Fernandes looked to have the fight in the bag but paid the price for his tactical and negative approach with two late penalties that cost him the fight. Zelonijs was then beaten by Hungary’s Akos Braun in the semi-finals. Braun had been in fine form this year, winning the World Cup event in Warsaw and he proved the strongest man on the day by outlasting Razvozov in the final by a single penalty.

With Fernandes and Kevkhishvili going out in the early rounds there was a lot of action in the repechage as those two fought back. Kevkhishvili came through to face Zelonijs for bronze and dominated him, scoring a quick-fire waza-ari with kata-guruma and then ending the contest with a second waza-ari from te-guruma. Fernandes also finished with bronze after he dashed the home crowd’s hopes with a slick kouchi-gari to down Shoeman and put an end to the Dutchman’s dream of a medal on home soil.

Women’s under 70kg

As the reigning champion and fighting in her home city, all eyes were on Edith Bosch. But she would not have it all her own way with 2003 champion Rasa Sraka of Slovenia and five-time European medallist Ylenia Scapin of Itlay also vying for top spot. But Bosch’s path cleared up a little in the second round as Sraka suffered a surprise defeat to Hungary’s Anett Meszaros. Bosch struggled to overcome Ukraine’s Maryna Pryschepa in her first fight and then faced tough French woman Gevrise Emane but threw her for ippon with a delightful ashi-waza.

In the semi-final she came up against Meszaros in another tough battle decided by penalties, three to one in Bosch’s favour. Waiting for the favourite in the final was Scapin after a tough struggle through to that stage. She needed golden score, before producing a lightning tai-otoshi for ippon, to beat Spain’s Leire Iglesias. Narrow victories followed against Austria’s Silvia Schlagnitweit and Catherine Jacques of Belgium. The final was another nail-biter but it was settled by a single penalty, awarded to Scapin, giving Bosch a second straight title. Meszaros beat Schlagnitweit for bronze and Jacques stunned Sraka by throwing her for ippon with yoko-gake to win her first award at this level.

Men’s under 81kg

There was disappointment for the neutrals with the news that Olympic and reigning champion Ilias Iliadis of Greece was not in the draw. With double former champion Sergei Aschwanden of Switzerland fighting at under 90kg this year and another former champion Estonia’s Aleksei Budolin far from his former dynamic best, this category was wide open. Last year’s silver medallist Ole Bischof of Germany was in the draw but he was ranked as the number two fighter in his country because team mate Florian Wanner is the world champion.

But it was Bischof who made the biggest bang as he stormed into the final. First he scalped Budolin for the second year in succession and then threw Georgia’s Grigori Mamrikishvili for ippon to set up a semi-final with home fighter Guillaume Elmont. He had been in fine form, throwing Switzerland’s Micha Egger, Moldova’s Evghenii Rusu and France’s Anthony Rodriguez for ippon. He looked all set to make the final, leading Bischof by koka until he was thrown for yuko in the last second. There was a surprise on the other side of the draw as Britain’s Euan Burton strangled world medallist Robert Krawczyk of Poland in the quarter-final. Slovakian Boris Novotny awaited Burton in the last four after he produced a strong run that included a victory against powerful Ukrainian Illya Chymchyuri. The semi-final was a battle between two unfancied fighters but they produced a close affair that Novotny won by yuko with an uchi-mata-makikomi-gaeshi.

The final did not last long as a determined Bischof ensured he would not be playing the role of bridesmaid for a second year in a row. Novotny casually advanced towards his opponent with an out-stretched arm, only to be thrown for ippon with a dropping seoi-nage. There was an even quicker win in the bronze medal counter between Krawczyk and Elmont with the Pole needing just eight seconds to break Dutch hearts with a flashing seoi-nage. Burton went one better than his fifth place from last year as he dominated last year’s Tournoi de Paris champion Rodriguez. The Briton scored waza-ari with a peculiar looking kata-guruma variation before settling the affair with a thudding ippon from makikomi to win only Britain’s second men’s European medal since 1999.

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