Bulgarian best judoka Ivelina Ilieva triumphed with a title at the European Open Cup in Oberwart (Austria). The European runner-up and fifth from the 2019 World Cup started directly from the second round in the 57 kg category, having achieved 4 convincing victories by ippon – over Malin Wilson (Great Britain), Shannon van de Meeberg (Netherlands), in the semi-final she prevailed with a golden point over Nilufar Ermaganbetova (Uzbekistan), and in the final she dealt with the Croatian Taja Topolovec.
19 female competitors started in the category. And overall in the competition competed 283 judokas from 37 countries.
This was Ivelina Ilieva’s second competition after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She also participated in the European Championships in Sofia in April, but since she had retired from the sport, her competition rights were only renewed on the first day of the championship in the capital.
The tournament in Austria was part of the preparation for the “Shun Judo” athlete for the World Championship in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) from October 6 to 13.
“I am very satisfied with Ivelina’s performance, she made strong matches after such a long absence from a major forum”, said her personal trainer Svilen Skerlev. “Of course, we also drew conclusions regarding the preparation, so that we can soon boast of such a medal and from a higher-ranked competition. But I think we’ve made a good start on the road to the Paris 2024 Olympics”, added he.
Ivelina Ilieva is a Bulgarian judoka and a multiple Bulgarian judo champion. She competed in the women’s 57 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She is the silver medallist of the 2016 European Judo Championships in the -57 kg category. She won world bronze in SAMBO in 2011 and 2010.
