Karaganda judoka wins bronze at European Cup

Karaganda judoka Islam Bozbayev won a bronze medal at the European Cup. The competition was held in Gori, Georgia. In total, 200 fighters from 15 countries tested their strength at these competitions.

The national team of Kazakhstan includes two Karaganda athletes – Makhambet Datkin (-81 kg) and Islam Bozbayev (-100 kg). The latter became the bronze medalist of the competition.

Islam Bozbayev had four fights in total. The first one is against an athlete from Georgia. The Karagandin lost it by a decision of the judges. In the second match, he met with a Serbian judoka. Islam Bozbayev defeated him with a score of 10-0. The next fight was against an Azerbaijani. Here, the Karaganda resident also won with a score of 10-0.

Our judoka fought with a Ukrainian for the third place. For the Karagandy, the meeting ended in a clean victory: with a body shot, he laid his opponent on the shoulder blades.

– In general, the competition was very high. In my weight class, for example, the Olympic silver medalist in Rio fought, and he lost. This means that the opponents were very strong and well-prepared. The competitions themselves were held at a high level and became a great experience for me," says Islam Bozbayev.

The judoka has training camps ahead in Astana. There, the coaching staff will decide at which competitions the Karaganda resident will have to defend the honor of the region and the country in the future.