European Cadet Cup, Romania

I travelled over to Romania for the Cadet European Cup.  This was my first big event at -50 and was a real tough event. 

Andras Matics (Hungary) First Fight

Andras is the current Hungarian Champion and has had some good wins on the Cadet tour already this year.  I started well and controlled the fight for the first two minutes and was close to scoring a couple of times. I attempted a pick-up after about three minutes and got thrown for Wazari.  I could not get the score back so was beaten in the first round. Andras went on to win a Bronze Medal

The top half of the draw was really tough.  As well as the Hungarian the impressive Zhengisbek from Khazakstan, Pantano (No2 in Europe), and Braga from Brazil were all just around me in the draw. Braga from Brazil impressed in the first fight beating Pantano in 10 seconds.  This meant that the Hungarian needed to defeat the Brazilian to pull me back in. To my surprise Matics beat the Brazilian with a hold in the last 30 seconds after being dominated all the fight. I now had to fight the Brazilian in the Repecharge

Marcelo Braga (Brazil) Second Fight

This was the first time I had been up against a Brazilian.  Marcelo (age 16) had recently won the Brazilian championships earning him a place on the European Tour with the Brazilian team.  Marcelo will also be fighting in Berlin next weekend. We were both very similar fighters and lots of attacks were going in from us both.  It was a close contest which went into golden score but I got caught with a yuko and was put out of the competition. Marcelo went on to win the other Bronze Medal.

Picture of Marcelo Braga and me before we went on to fight

Results Romania Cadet Cup