The countries that always played an important role in Acropolis International Tournament took action this year as well. Spain, Greece and Turkey struggled for the first place in the third -in a raw- 2nd Division Tournament that was hosted in “Galanopoulos“ Sport Hall in Loutraki. Finally, the representatives of the Iberian Peninsula got the first place in terms of medals. The Spanish athletes gained 15 medals in total (4 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze) while Greece came second -with 4 gold, 3 silver and 8 bronze- and Turkey third with 4-1-4. In the same tournament of 2008, also held in Loutraki, Spain was first as well, while Turkey was in the second place.
Netherlands was happy to see both of its representatives -Dani Libosan (-57 kg) and Antoinett Henink (-63 kg) winning gold medals. Gulsah Kocaturk (-78 kg) from Turkey (third in the European Championship in Tbilisi) reached the first place in the tournament for the second year, and her compatriot Kubra Tekneci (-52 kg) was first as well!
Actually 166 athletes -male and female- from 17 countries participated in total in the Acropolis International Tournament. It should be reminded that the Municipality of Loutraki-Perachora co-operated in organizing this year’s tournament, which was dedicated to the Voluntary Organization for the children, “To Hamogelo tou Paidiou” (“Smile of the Child”), while the exclusive sponsor of the tournament is the athletics equipment company “PUMA”.
“Bulls” in Loutraki….
The Spanish team with the most participations -apart from Greece- was actually impressive, winning 15 medals in total! Nineteen year-old Adrian Nacimiento (-81 kg) beat Stevan Stamenkovic from Serbia in the final, while Alejandro San Martin (-100 kg), of the same age, beat Martin Pacek from Sweden and got the first place.
As for women, 21 year-old Maria Bernabeu, who came third in the U20 European Championship in 2006 (5th in the U23 European Championship in 2007 and 7th in 2008 ) beat Maria Rebeka Oyakawa (-78 kg) from Brazil and won the gold medal as well as Carla Mosquera (U23 Champion in Spain, in 2009) thanks to her two victories in round robin.
Greek men’s domination
The Greek male athletes reached full success in the third Acropolis Tournament. Dimokritos Manousaridis (-60 kg), Lavrentis Alexanidis (-66 kg), Aris Kotanidis (-73 kg) and Viktoras Tosonidis (-90 kg) all won gold medals, which were enough to bring the host country in the first place of the men’s ranking. Manousaridis (third in the U17 European championship in 2006) beat Veysi Goz from Turkey in the final and won the gold medal just like Kotanidis who beat David Paco from Spain. Finally, Tosonidis (Greek Champion in 2008) beat Emil Edmar from Sweden. In the Greek final of 66 kg between Alexanidis and Setsidis, the first won the game and took the gold medal. As far as Ilias Iliadis (-100) is concerned, who was first in both years 2007 and 2008, finally, took the third place since he was beaten by Swedish Martin Pacek, in the semi-final.
Vagelis Soufleris : “Much interest in the Acropolis Tournament”…
The President of HJF, Mr. Vagelis Soufleris emphasized the great international interest in the “Acropolis” and talked about the preparations for the World Championship U20, which will take place in October, in the “Peace and Friendship Stadium”.
“We started in 2007 with many dreams and ambitions . Year after year we can realize that foreign countries are getting more and more interested in participating in the tournament. In 2007, eleven countries participated in the tournament, while this year we are happy to have representatives from seventeen countries! And all these in a period when the financial crisis affects the universal athletics, something that became obvious after IJF’s decision to postpone the beginning of the pre-olympic ranking for London, for one year! The Federation are doing their best, so that the tournament will be established in the universal Judo and the Greek athletics” said Mr. Soufleris and also referred to the great appointment of October (22-25/10), the World Championship of U20. ”It’s been a year since we have started the preparations for the Championship. Not only in terms of organization but also in athletic preparations, I am sure that we will be absolutely ready, so that another organization in our country will be fully successful. In the competitive part, I would be satisfied, if we manage to outnumber the medals we had taken in St. Dominique, three years ago”.
ΜΕΝ
-60kg
1 MANOUSARIDIS DIMOKRITOS (GREECE)
2 GOZ VEYSI (TURKEY)
3 SUNDSTROM OLLE (SWEDEN)
3 TSELARIDIS SPARTAKOS (GREECE)
-66kg
1 ALEXANIDIS LAVRENTIS (GREECE)
2 SETSIDIS KOSMAS (GREECE)
3 OVANSSIAN VAGAN (ARMENIA)
3 RAMIREZ DAVID (SPAIN)
-73kg
1 KOTANIDIS ARIS (GREECE)
2 PACO DAVID (SPAIN)
3 RAMIREZ JAVIER (SPAIN)
3 UZUN CANBERK (TURKEY)
-81kg
1 NACIMIENTO ADRIAN (SPAIN)
2 STAMENKOVIC STEVAN (SERBIA)
3 STEFANIDIS IOANNIS (GREECE)
3 TSOKOURIS DAVID (GREECE)
-90kg
1 TOSONIDIS VIKTOR (GREECE)
2 EDMAR EMIL (SWEDEN)
3 CARRENO ISAAC (SPAIN)
3 ILIADIS MOISIS (GREECE)
-100kg
1 SAN MARTIN ALEJANDRO (SPAIN)
2 PACEK MARTIN (SWEDEN)
3 ILIADIS DIONISIS (GREECE)
3 VULEVIC NIKOLA (MONTENEGRO)
+100kg
1 KOCATURK REMZI (TURKEY)
2 ILIADIS VASILIS (GREECE)
3 ALEXIADIS MICHALIS (GREECE)
3 CANSECO VICTOR (SPAIN)
WOMEN
-48kg
1 CIBIR DERYA (TURKEY)
2 SARMIENTO AIDA (SPAIN)
3 MELIGKAKI NIKOLETA (GREECE)
-52kg
1 TEKNECI KUBRA (TURKEY)
2 ROSELL ELIA (SPAIN)
3 AKYUZ OZGENUR (TURKEY)
3 HERMANSSON KARIN (SWEDEN)
-57kg
1 LIBOSAN DANI (NETHERLANDS)
2 ANDREASON JENNIE (SWEDEN)
3 EGIMLEZ KUDRET (TURKEY)
3 HORTAL SILVIA (SPAIN)
-63kg
1 HENNINK ANTOINETT (NETHERLANDS)
2 PUCHE ISABEL (SPAIN)
3 MESTRE MARTA (SPAIN)
-70kg
1 BERNABEU MARIA (SPAIN)
2 OYAKAWA MARIA REBEKA YO (BRASIL)
3 VIZANIARI XRISTINA (GREECE)
3 TASKAYA ESIN (TURKEY)
-78kg
1 MOSQUERA CARLA (SPAIN)
2 MPOURMPOUNTELI IRINI (GREECE)
+78kg
1 KOCATURK GULSAH (TURKEY)
2 ALVAREZ SARA (SPAIN)
FINAL RESULTS: http://www.hjf.gr/ar879/