Mateo Holjevac Wins World Bronze in Judo
The young athlete from Dugo Selo shone at the World Championships for People with Down Syndrome in Sweden, securing individual and team bronze. His club teammate Nenad Vrbanec became world champion.
The young athlete from Dugo Selo shone at the World Championships for People with Down Syndrome in Sweden, securing individual and team bronze. His club teammate Nenad Vrbanec became world champion.
Mateo Holjevac, a member of the Judo Club Zrinski from Čakovec, achieved an outstanding success at the World Judo Championships for People with Down Syndrome. At the competition held in the Swedish town of Lindesberg, Holjevac secured a bronze medal in the individual competition up to 73 kilograms, and then, together with his national team colleagues, also clinched the team bronze.
On his way to the medal, Holjevac successively defeated strong opponents. First, he was better than Franco Mussolini from Argentina, then he beat Oliver Trepinski from Poland, and he confirmed his winning streak against Mikka Niskanen from Finland. These three victories took him to the semifinals, where he was stopped by Turkey's Ahmet Unal. Nevertheless, the bronze medal represents a huge success for the young Croatian fighter.
The great day for the Čakovec club was completed by Nenad Vrbanec, who reached the world champion title in the category up to 90 kilograms. In the semifinals, he defeated Portugal's Lemos, and in the final bout, he was better than Iceland's Weyand, thus bringing a gold medal to Croatia.
In addition to individual successes, the Croatian representatives also shone in the team part of the competition. As the only representatives of Croatia, Holjevac and Vrbanec joined forces with Bulgarian fighter Bozhidara Angelova. In a field of nine teams, this mixed Croatian-Bulgarian team won the bronze medal. Interestingly, they competed with a numerical disadvantage because teams could have between three and five members, so they often had to step onto the tatami twice against fresh opponents.
They narrowly defeated Georgia, Finland, and Great Britain with a score of 3:2. They were defeated by the same score against Argentina and Poland.
Coach Filip Šeketa, who leads the Judo Club Zrinski, did not hide his pride.
"It's hard to put into words how proud I am of the boys. They truly live judo. They train hard, listen, respect agreements, and are a real example of how athletes should behave, both on and off the tatami. That's why I'm especially glad when all their effort pays off in this way,"Šeketa said for Kaportal, adding that such competitions are much more than sporting events and that it's wonderful to see mutual respect and support among athletes from all over the world.
Incidentally, this is not Mateo Holjevac's first major success on the international stage. It was in Lindesberg that he became European champion last year, and now he has added his first world medal to his collection.
