European Cadet Circuit

The European Cadet A Tournament circuit drew to a close in Warsaw last weekend with the last event before this Summers European Championships and Youth Olympic Festival. 42 countries participated in this years Cadet A Tournaments, a clear indication of the value placed upon these events by the European Governing Bodies.

Lisa Kearney from Yamakwai, was Irelands sole representative on the Cadet circuit this year competing in the –52kg category. The experience she has gained in these competitions and training camps has been invaluable. Lisa picked up Gold and Bronze medals on her travels but more importantly amassed 10 contests against some of Europe’s best young Judoka, winning 9, 8 of which by Ippon. In fact Lisa’s only loss came by way of ‘Golden Score’ in the semi final of the Czech A Tournament to the impressive Hedvig Karakas of Hungary. Karakas will go into the European Championships in Salzburg this month as the favourite after winning both the Czech and Polish A Tournaments. However the –52kg category boasts many proven internationals including last years –48kg European Champion, Suzi Zimmermann of Germany. Zimmerman hails from the very strong Franfurt Judo Club and won this years –52kg A Tournament in Berlin in some style. Among the other strong challengers will be Ewlina Rzadkowska of Poland who won the World Schools Championships earlier this year but the Russian, French, Turkish, and Italian players are rarely out of the medals in the major championships.

The European Cadet Championships take place in Salzburg, Austria 17-19th June. Again Lisa will be the only Irish competitor, but she will have no shortage of support from her young clubmates who have worked tirelessly in preparing her for biggest event to date.

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