MINSK, 25 June (BelTA) – The Belarusian national judo team has placed fifth in the team tournament of the 2nd European Games, BelTA has learned.
Belarus beat Hungary 4-2 and Austria 4-1 in the elimination round. Belarus lost a semifinal match to Russia 4-2 and a bronze medal contest to France 4-1.
“I believe we could have won a medal today but unfortunately we lost in the mixed team event,” captain of the Belarusian judo team Maryna Slutskaya said. “Nevertheless, our athletes have done their best and fought to the end. Even when we were losing to Russia 3-0 we managed to brace up and end the match 3-2. I think we will do better at the next European Championship.”
Maryna Slutskaya said that she will be training for the 2019 European Judo Championships and will try to win as many points as possible to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She also noted that the Belarusian judo team values support from fans.
Her teammate Dzmitry Minkou believes that the 2nd European Games will help popularize judo in Belarus. “Judo is an Olympic sport, and this is an important tournament which brought together a lot of famous European athletes. People come with their children, start taking interest in the sport. I believe that more people will take up judo after the games,” he said.
Maryna Slutskaya won a gold in the +78kg. As for the Belarusian men, Daniel Mukete (100kg) demonstrated the best results ranking fifth.
The judo tournament at the 2nd European Games includes 15 medal events.