On the last day of the EC, Saturday April 29th, the team lost in teamsparring against Moldova.
Month: April 2023
European Championships 2023
Friday April 28th, day 3 of the competition
In the morning 6 belgian competitors had to perform. Rahim was up in the category sparring -57kg, in his first European Championship, against an experienced 4th degree from Italy. Rahim was not impressed, fought well, moved well and made points, but the Italian won the bout due to his experience. Anyhow this was very promising for the future.
In the -63kg Vladimior won his first bout, with first point, against Ukraine. In his second bout against Slovenia however he was a bit impressed. In that same category Omar was up against Hungary. We know Omar can do better, we did not see the Omar we all know…. so hopefully he can focus now for teamsparring on Saturday.
Jérémie was up against Italy in the -78kg. Also Jérémie can do better….. he lost this first bout.
Rune, on his second EC, faced Finland. He fought like a Viking and did very well, but lost control in the last 30 seconds, and the Finnish competitor was able to turn the fight, unfortunately. The last one of the morning was Driss, also on his first EC. He faced Norway in the -85kg. He did well, but was a bit impressed and had problems with the yop chagi of his adversaire. Also Driss has the time to grow into next championships.
In the afternoon Hans and Wim were up in the male power breaking. For Wim it was the first time he competed in this discipline on this level. Hans however managed to break all boards in both ab choomok chirugi and yopcha chirugi. Unfortunately some countries did even better, so it was not enough to go through.
At 18.00 the yearly AETF Congress Meeting is taking place for the delegates of all countries present.
European Championships 2023
Day 2 of the competition, April 27th
On this second day of the competition Belgium had only one competitor performing: Esther Meulemeester was up into power breaking in the afternoon. In this female senior power breaking competition 19 competitors participated. Esther was the 6th on the list. Her goal was to do better than last year, and she managed…. she broke all boards in both sonkal taerigi and yopcha chirugi, gaining 15 points. At that moment Poland had 21 points, Romania 16, while 3 other women shared the third place with Esther. She was in the running for a tie break for bronze until the last country… Hungary broke all boards and had to run a tie break with Poland for gold and silver, Romania won bronze, while Esther and the 3 other competitors with 15 points share the 4th place.
Anyhow, she can be very proud on this achievement, setting new goals for next championships, making progression in this discipline step by step.
European Championships 2023
April 26th 2023
On this first competition day 4 belgian competitors had to perform.
Andreea Musca started in the category tul female 4-6 degree in a pre-round against Italy. Although Andreea performed very well, the Italian competitor was just a bit better. She became Europen Champion later that day. Wim Vermeir competed in the category tul male 4-6 degree. He was up against Scotland and although everyone was convinced he won that bout, the umpires decided otherwise. Also Wim’s adversaire won bronze in that category.
The same happened with Tomas Chacon Torrealba in tul male 2 degree, his Italian adversaire won the bout although he performed very well. Rune Schuddinck was the last belgian competitor on this Wednesday morning. He won the first bout in tul male 1 degree against Moldova, but had to admit his Norvegian adversaire in the second bout, a former European champion, was better.
In the afternoon Andreea and Tomas performed in pre-arranged free sparring. They were up against Sweden. At first the referees decided on a draw, after the second performance Belgium lost the bout….. although like in the morning all were convinced it was a win.
Not a succesful or happy day for Belgium, but more is to come in the next days.
European Championships 2023
The belgian team & delegation arrived safely in Cluj-Napoica, Romania on Monday April 24th for the 2023 European Championships. The registration, weigh-in and accreditation went smoothly, everyone is ready to start the competition.
The opening ceremony is planned for Tuesday evening April 25th, on the program for Wednesday April 26th: tul & pre-arranged free sparring. Female power breaking is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, sparring and male power breaking on Friday. On the agenda for Friday evening: the yearly AETF Congress Meeting. On Saturday the belgian team is competing in team sparring.
The delegation will be back in Belgium on Sunday morning.
If you want to keep update on how the team is doing, stay tunes through this website or through the Facebook page & Instagram account.