On the men's side, “only” four judokas are lining up in Croatia since Jorre Verstraeten (-60 kg), Sami Chouchi (-90 kg) and Toma Nikiforov (-100 kg) are accompanied by the young Jarne Duyck (-81 kg).
On the other hand, on the women's side, there are seven with the highly anticipated return to competition of Gabriella Willems (-70 kg). The 26-year-old from Liège returns just in time, but not 100%, to compete in this Euro after a long rehabilitation following knee surgery in September. Gaby has not lost hope of qualifying for the Paris Games since she is currently still 28th in the ranking.
At his side, we find Lois Petit and Ellen Salens (-48 kg), Amber Ryheul (-52 kg) and Mina Libeer (-57 kg) as well as two young people, Alessia Corrao (22 years old/-63 kg) and Vicky Verschaere (23 years/-78 kg).
In the wake of this Euro, there will be two more Grand Slams, the first in Tajikistan, from May 3 to 5, and the second in Kazakhstan, from 10 to 12, as well as the World Cup, from 19 to 23, in Abu Dhabi . Judo is the only sport to present such a program before the Olympics!
The Belgian program
Thursday 25
- -60 kg > Jorre Verstraeten / -48 kg > Lois Petit and Ellen Salens
- -52 kg > Amber Ryheul / -57 kg > Mina Libeer
Friday 26
- -81 kg > Jarne Duyck / -90 kg > Sami Chouchi
- -63 kg > Alessia Corrao / -70 kg > Gabriella Willems
Saturday 27
- -100 kg > Toma Nikiforov / -78 kg > Vicky Verschaere
Start of the fights at 10:30 a.m.… To be continued on https://judotv.com/
Toma Nikiforov: “More reactions with reality TV than with judo, unfortunately…”
