Judo / Israel's own shines golden in Antalya

Israel's Alice Schlesinger took gold yesterday in the under-63 kg class at the European Under-23 Judo Championships in Antalya, Turkey.

Schlesinger's stellar record - she took bronze at this summer's all-ages World Championships - allowed her to begin competition in the round of 16, where she met Frenchwoman Valeriane Etienne.

"I was very nervous," Schlesinger admitted. "She is a competitor I know, and I've already beaten her twice, but I knew she was strong and dangerous."

Two minutes in, Etienne scored a waza-ari (the second highest-scoring move possible) and tried to pin Schlesinger down. "I got out of the hold, and all the pressure went away. After a few seconds I threw her in an ippon," Schlesinger said, referring to the highest-scoring throw that automatically wins the match.

From then on, Schlesinger was unstoppable, downing Spain's Isabel Palao and Azerbaijan's Ramila Yusubova to reach the final with Ukrainian Oksana Didenko.

"I knew I wanted to take first place," she said of her feeling going into the final. A yuko (third-level score) and a waza-ari later, she had done just that.

"I knew I was among the favorites, but a lot of girls I expected to reach the later stages lost in their first matches, and that really surprised me," she said.

Pavel Musin, the judoka's trainer and fiance, allowed little time to celebrate. "I'm so happy we came here, because in one of those matches you made all the mistakes in the world," he said to Schlesinger. "And now we have something to work on."