Sporting becomes European champion of judo
Lions defeated Yawara Neva in the final.
Sporting’s judo team won the UEFA Champions League on Friday after beating Yawara Neva’s Russians 3-2 in the final of the event in Bucharest.
The ‘leonina’ team, trained by former judoka Pedro Soares, secured the title in the -90 kg bout, in which Georgian-born Spaniard Nikoloz Sherazadishvili defeated Stanislav Retinskii for ‘waza-ari’.
Sherazadishvili was a strong name in the leonine hypothesis, having already won a world champion at -90 kg in Baku in September and won the bronze medal in the Europeans in Tel Aviv in April.
The ‘lions’ entered the final with victories of David Reis (-66 kg) and Odbayar Ganbaatar (-73 kg), but in the third match, the Russians reduced the disadvantage, with Denis Kalinin beating Anri Egutidze (-81 kg).
In the fourth match, Sherazadishvili placed Sporting with three wins (3-1) and out of reach of the Yawara-Neva, reason why Jorge Fonseca’s defeat in the fifth and final match (+90 kg) no longer influences the final decision.
In the Champions League, eight teams competed, with Sporting defeating Valencia’s Spaniards (3-2) and then the Edelweiss (4-1) Russians before the final.
