Judo Alberta’s team of cadet (U18) and junior (U21) competitors won six medals at the Sportif International Judo Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland Saturday. This developmental international competition hosted 800 athletes from 20 countries.
Alberta’s team performed well winning six medals and – more importantly – gaining valuable experience at the international level. Lethbridge’s Hana Varsanyi had a great day winning a gold medal in the 63kg, besting her BC club mate Lavanna Lass in the final.
“The team performed well; unfortunately we had a few bad calls against two of our girls otherwise we could have scored two more medals,” said HP Alberta Coach, Ewan Beaton .
“Hana was good today! She had to come back in her first match against a very physical girl from Sweden; after this match she was in full control for the rest of the day scoring with some fantastic throws! This is her first European medal and it will give her confidence as she develops into a high performance athlete”
“This was the perfect level of competition for our athletes; it was not too difficult and not to easy but the perfect level for the athletes to win matches and win medals. This is the type of competition that will allow the athletes to gain confidence so they can perform at the European Cup and World cup level.”