After hosting performances by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sting and the Scorpions, the Children's Eurovision and a number of important sporting events in recent years - the huge and impressive "Armatz Arena" in Sofia, which contains about 18,000 seats, will host the continent's best judoka from this morning For the record event of the year in the industry: European Championships.
Israel's largest delegation, consisting of 17 athletes, will try to preserve the medal tradition in this prestigious class.
We have a strong team, which consists on the one hand of competitors ranked high in the lottery, and on the other hand is complemented by a number of young guys (including premieres), who are already starting the campaign towards the Paris Olympics in more than two years.
Our women's team,
"This is the beginning of the period of important competitions," said the eve of the competition, the chairman of the union, Moshe Ponti.
I've seen lately how our athletes train, and I believe in them and hope there will be successes.
This is important for judo - there is no championship in recent years that we have not returned with medals, and I hope we will do it again this time. "
Yesterday, the judo team held a memorial service for Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Day.
The athletes, the national coaches, Oren Samadja (men) and Shani Hershko (women), and the team members, gathered at 9:50 in the training hall in Sofia, turned on the radio via an app, and at 10:00 exactly like all the people of Israel stood with a two-year-old siren Minutes, to commemorate the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazis.
In recent years, the team has been careful to mark important events and dates during their stay abroad.
Tal Flicker in final preparations,
So a few years ago back from the European Championships in Montpellier, the team stopped the vehicles on the French-Spanish border, to remember and not to forget.
Even before the peace agreements with the Gulf states, the team that managed to enter Abu Dhabi held a Shabbat reception together with then-Sports Minister Miri Regev, and so did the unique visit last year, during the Masters competition held in Qatar.
The eyes of the Ukrainians
Until this competition, for over two years, strict rules were maintained at sporting events due to corona restrictions, with athletes, coaches, team members, referees and union leaders, buried during all competition days in their hotel room, and required to perform corona checks upon landing, checks on arrival at the hotel And before each competition day of each athlete.
Initial poetry, Photo: Oren Aharoni
And here, just before the start of the current European Championship, the good news was received, when the European Judo Federation (EJU) announced its first relief during the days of the competition: Athletes can extract bones outside the hotel, and run for example, starting at 8:00 am, while delegation heads They will also be able to go shopping if necessary.
It should be emphasized that the change currently applies only to competition in Sofia, thanks to the low morbidity situation in Bulgaria, and it remains to be seen whether the "bubble" will burst in future competitions in other countries as well.
In any case, the EJU asked to be kept and to have fun with masks.
Alongside this line, a morale boost for the delegation in blue and white: Dozens of Israelis traveling in the Bulgarian capital are expected to come to the "Armetz Arena" to cheer on the team and give it a homely atmosphere during the three days of the championship.
Significant back wind.
Baruch Shmailov and Matan Kukoliev, Photo: Oren Aharoni
On a more general level, much attention is being paid at the championship to the Ukrainian athlete delegation, which has been forced over the past two months to train outside its home and face not easy personal pressures due to Russia’s invasion of their country.
Of course, at the same time, the delegations from Russia and Belarus will not arrive because of the sanctions imposed on them by the industry.
A lot of interest will attract Olympic bronze medalist and former world champion, Daria Biludid, for whom this is not only her first competition since the Olympics in Tokyo, but also her first appearance in her new weight, when she jumped from 48 kg to the weight category up to 57 kg.
Other notable names in the championship: the Olympic runner-up from Tokyo, the Georgian woman in Datuashvili (up to 73 kg); the current world champion, the Portuguese Georges Fonseca (up to 100 kg);
World number one, Dennis Viaro Moldova (up to 66 kg); Olympic runner-up, Frenchman Amandine Bouchard (up to 52 kg);
Her teammate over 78kg, Romana Diko, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics; and world champion up to 70kg, Barbara Martic from Croatia.
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