site.btaBulgarian Judoka Ivelina Ilieva Wins 1st Place in Oberwart European Open 2022

Bulgaria's best judoka Ivelina Iilieva won first place in the Oberwart European Open 2022.

The 31-year-old Ilieva secured four convincing victories in the second round in the -57 kg women's category against Malin Wilson (UK), Shannon van de Meeberg (Netherlands), Nilufar Ermaganbetova (Uzbekistan) in the semifinals and Tihea Topolovec in the finals.

A total of 19 judokas competed in the -57 kg category, while 283 judokas from 37 countries competed in the Championship.

Ilieva's personal coach Svilen Skerlev said he is very happy with her performance. "Of course, we drew our conclusions about the training, so we can soon bring such a medal from a higher competition. I believe we set a good beginning on our path to the 2024 Paris Olympics," he said.