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Max Stewart won his third
Junior European Cup gold medal over the weekend in Leibnitz, Austria.
Once again the 17-year-old
from Lordswood Budokan in Birmingham was at the top of the medal
rostrum, adding to his titles earned this year at the Coimbra
and Kaunas Junior European Cups.
Stewart won all six
of his fights in the -73kg competition, seeing off Nimrod Pinhas
(ISR), Dus Ratkovic (CRO), Gabor Karpati (HUN) and Yert Torenov
(KAZ) in the early rounds.
In the semi-final, Stewart
beat Sagi Muki of Isreael for a place in the final, where he beat
Igor Potpaparic of Slovenia for a well deserved gold medal.
Commenting on Max’s
performance, Lead Development Coach Kate Howey said, “This was
another very positive performance from Max. Each opponent had
a different style of fighting so he had to adapt to each fight
and he coped really well.
“We have opened up these
events so that British players who are not selected can enter
and Max decided to self-fund his trip to the Kanaus European Cup.
So going out there to get the fights himself and gain more European
experience has paid off as he put in another top performance in
Austria.”
A second medal was won
for Great Britain by Ben Fletcher from Pinewood Judo Club, in
the -90kg weight category.
This was Fletcher’s
second Junior European Cup bronze medal, after a top performance
at the 2011 Coimbra Junior European Cup in March.
Fletcher beat Philip
Galandi (GER) and Matej Luk Glusac (SRB) before losing to Benja
Stoffel (SWE) in the semi-final. Fletcher then overcame Max Strote
of Germany in the bronze medal final.
Commenting on Ben’s
performance, Howey said, “Ben fought well until the semi-final
where he was outstretched by his opponent. But he showed good
strength of character to turn it around in the bronze medal final
fight and showed his determination.
“Ben wasn’t selected
for the Junior World Championships last year as we felt he needed
to develop more. He has worked on his judo and has been medalling
regularly which is really encouraging to see.”
On the event overall
Howey said, “We are happy with the two medals from this event.
I still believe we can achieve more and we will continue working
towards that.
“The event provided
good experience for our players ahead of the Junior World and
European Championships. There was a large representation from
Asia, including Kazakhstan, so it was good for these players to
get experience of fighting these countries who will be at the
major championships this year.”
©
Mike Varey
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