Judoka from Minsk have earned the right to compete in the International Superfinal of "Battle of Cities" following the playoff tournament held in the capital of Belarus on September 30 – October 1.
"Battle of Cities" is an international project organized by the Russian Judo Federation and the "Cradle of the Fatherland" charity program, supported by general sponsor Fonbet. The competition features U18 judo teams from all federal districts of Russia.
Currently, the second stage of "Battle of Cities" is underway. Competitions have already concluded in four of the eight legions: "Pyotr Bagration," "Dmitry Donskoy," "Alexander Suvorov," and "Fyodor Ushakov." As a result, eight teams have qualified for the project's International Superfinal: Nazran, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Ust-Labinsk, Nalchik, Stavropol, Chelyabinsk, and Yekaterinburg.
In addition, one of the eight international playoff tournaments took place in Astana, where two Kazakh and two Russian teams competed for a single spot in the International Superfinal, which was claimed by judoka from Almaty.
The capital of Belarus hosted the second playoff tournament of this series. Teams from Minsk and Mogilev faced two squads from Russia: judoka from Barnaul, who placed fourth in the "Pyotr Bagration" Legion, and athletes from Achinsk, who finished third in the "Dmitry Donskoy" Legion.
The second day of the tournament opened with a match between Mogilev and Barnaul. Once again, the clash proved exceptionally tight: everything was decided by a late surge from the Belarusian judoka at an 11:11 tie, winning two consecutive bouts. However, Mogilev then lost to Achinsk (8:13), leaving the fate of first place and the ticket to the International Superfinal in the hands of the Barnaul team. Although the athletes from the Altai Krai capital were already out of contention for the tournament victory, they could have helped Achinsk take the top spot had they prevented the tournament leaders from Minsk from winning their third consecutive match. In that case, with teams tied on match victories, the standings would have been determined by individual bout differentials.
At first, this scenario seemed possible: Barnaul won the opening two bouts to grab the early lead. However, the Minsk squad quickly rallied and left no doubt about their superiority for the rest of the meeting. The final score was 13:4 in favor of the judoka from the Belarusian capital, who will now prepare for the project's culminating event.
The International Superfinal of "Battle of Cities" will take place on December 3–17 in Moscow. It will bring together the 16 best Russian teams from the legion tournaments, 8 specially invited foreign squads, and 8 teams advancing through the international playoff events.
