Europe Open: Jahja Nurković bronze in strong competition in Sarajevo

Montenegrin judoka Jahja Nurković won a bronze medal in the 81 kilogram category at the very strong European Open in Sarajevo, out of 45 competitors.

In the medal match, he defeated Egyptian Abdelgani Abdelrahman, ranked 26th in the world and a likely participant in the world championships to be held in Baku in October.

He achieved his triumph by ippon after half of the fight and won 50 points, one step closer to qualifying for the aforementioned World Championship.

Jahja began the competition in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina with victories over Russian Timur Ižaev by juke and Croatian Luka Zorotović, whom he defeated by ippon.

In the quarterfinals, after a great fight, he defeated the representative of Hungary, Benedek Tot, in a fight that lasted almost seven minutes.

Another tough match followed in the semifinals against Russian Akroman Parchiev and a defeat after six minutes of fighting.

However, he managed to maintain his freshness, defeat Abdelrahman and bring the medal to Montenegrin judo.

Jovan Peković and Aiša Nurković lost the bronze medal match.

In the over 100 kilogram category, Pekovic was defeated by domestic competitor Harun Sadiković after just over a minute on the tatami, so he had to settle for fifth place in the final standings.

Peković started the tournament in Sarajevo with a victory over Italian Silvana Lorenzo Agra, for which he needed only one juko, and in the quarterfinals he was better than Hungarian Levente Doboš, after his rival was disqualified due to three penalties.

In the semifinals, he was stopped by Serbian national team player Vidak Maljević.

On the first day of the competition in Sarajevo, Aiša Nurković came one step closer to a medal.

The young competitor, who is only 20 years old, was defeated in the bronze medal match in the 63 kg category by Australian Miv Kulan in a close duel decided by one juko and ultimately finished in fifth place.

Aisha defeated American Sarah Golden in the opening match, only to be stopped in the quarterfinals by Romanian Florentina Ivanescu, who later won the gold medal.

This was followed by a repechage in which Nurković played an excellent match and defeated Nataša Lauber with two vasaris.

In the end, nuances decided the battle for the medal, but despite the defeat, Aiša can be satisfied with her performance in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

295 competitors from 35 countries participated in the European Open, which will also be held in Podgorica next year.