Moldovan national para-judo team at the European Championship in the capital of Georgia // Photo: facebook.com
Ion Basoc and Oleg Kretsul were represented in the weight category over 95 kg. The tournament could have presented spectators with a Moldovan final, but Kretsul lost in the 1/4 finals to Ilham Zakiyev from Azerbaijan. Basok, the vice-champion of the Paralympic Games 2024, reached the final, where he lost to Zakiyev and won the silver medal. Kretsul defeated Georgia’s Ramini Kipshidze in the small final to win one of the two bronze medals. The second went to Gokhan Beecher from Turkey.
For Cretzul, who is also president of the Moldovan Paralympic Committee, the performance in the heaviest category was his debut. “For many years I wanted to compete in this category, to test myself. It was a challenge for me – an opponent who weighs almost 60 kg more. To put it mildly, very challenging. We have known him since 2003, and during this time he managed to win four medals at the Paralympics, two of which were gold. I am happy that our national team won two medals,” said the 2008 Paralympic champion after the tournament.
There were also team competitions, in which the Moldovan national team took the third place (not included in the medal count). Our athletes managed to defeat the national teams of Turkey and Italy. The best were the para-judoists from Georgia, the second place was taken by the representatives of France.
The colors of the Moldovan flag at the tournament, in addition to the medalists, were defended by Alina Condrea, Inna Cernei, Nikolay Bondarev, Vadim Kretsul, Oleg Nemtsan, Alexander Ursul, Alexander Cebotari under the guidance of coaches Vitaliy Gligor and Oleg Kretsul.
The Moldovan national team took the 12th place in the team standings. The hosts became the leaders. The Georgian team achieved a historic result, becoming the best in the continental championship with three gold, two silver and four bronze medals. The second place went to the Russian athletes, who performed in a neutral status (three gold, two silver and bronze medals each), and the top three were rounded off by the Turkish team (two gold, two silver and six bronze medals each).
About 200 athletes from 21 countries took part in the European Para Judo Championship.
