The new season of "Battle of the Cities", an international project of the Russian Judo Federation and the Cradle of the Fatherland Charitable Foundation with the support of the general sponsor fonbet, continued in Khabarovsk. The strongest squads of the Far Eastern Federal District were identified on the tatami of the Universal Regional Sports Complex, which will continue to fight in the next stage.
16 teams of judoka under the age of 18 from seven regions of the district gathered in Khabarovsk - the Republic of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory, the Amur Region, the Primorsky Territory, the Khabarovsk Territory, the Sakhalin Region and the Magadan Region. The draw divided them into four subgroups. The competitions, which resulted in the two strongest teams in each of the quarters winning tickets to the next stage of the selection, were held from April 27 to April 30.
In subgroup a, the best were judoka from the Ippon Sports School (Republic of Buryatia), who defeated rivals from the clubs Far Eastern Leopard (Primorsky Krai), fdzk-2 (Zabaikalsky Krai) and IC Rage (Khabarovsk Krai) during the competition. The second ticket to the next round from this subgroup went to the Leopards.
Quartet B brought together the fdzk-1 teams from the Trans-Baikal Territory, SSHOR JSC (Amur Region), Kabansky District Secondary School (Republic of Buryatia) and the Ussuri Tigers from Primorsky Krai. Zabaikalians and judoists from the Amur region continue to fight for reaching the finals.
Athletes from Kodokan Sports Complex (Republic of Buryatia) excelled in subgroup C. They got the better of their rivals from the Sakhalin Bears, the CCU Secondary School (Khabarovsk Territory) and the Titans (Magadan Region). The most stubborn was the confrontation between judoists from Buryatia and Sakhalin residents, which ended with a score of 13:12. The Bears became the second team to receive a ticket to the next round of the four.
"After the superfinal in Sochi, the motivation of the participants increased noticeably: if last year there were five teams in the Far East, this year there are already sixteen," said Irina Rodina, Vice President of the Far Eastern Judo Federation. — The Republic of Buryatia is the most enthusiastic: last year they entered the top eight of the superfinal, and this year they fielded four teams at once, three of which reached the second round. Primorsky Krai also distinguished itself — two out of three teams went further. The Trans-Baikal Territory, as in the previous year, was the first issue. The Amur region fielded one team and took second place in the subgroup, which is also a significant increase in the desire to fight.
The tournament is not easy and intense. But people already know what they're fighting for. The eyes are afraid, the hands do it, and everything goes to the end," Rodina added. — Every competition is an experience, but here the experience is special: at other tournaments you can have one meeting, and here -three fights in one. This is a tremendous help for the psychological confidence of an athlete.
Earlier, the first qualifying stages of the new "Battle of Cities" were held in Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol and Krasnoyarsk, which revealed the best teams of the Southern, North Caucasian and Siberian Federal Districts. In the near future, tournaments of a similar stage will be held in Moscow among judoka of the Central Federal Circuit, Vyritsa (North-West), Chelyabinsk (Ural Federal District) and Saratov (Volga Federal District).
The final of the regional tournament "Battles of Cities" was held in Moscow.
Source: Russian Judo Federation
