The leaders of the Moldova judo, Denis Vieru and Victor Sterpu, didn’t compete in the national championship. On December 9, they travelled to China to take part in the Masters 2019 competition that brings together the best 36 judokas of the world in each weight class, IPN reports.

In their absence, national champions in the 66 kg and 73 kg classes became Vadim Zaharia and Petru Pelivan. A big surprise was witnessed in the 81 kg class, where Nikon Zaboroshchuk, who returned from a training session from Japan, lost the final to Artur Panaiotov, who trains at the Judo School “Oleg Crețul”.

The winners in the other weight classes are: Mihail Doncilă, Dorin Goţonoagă, Iurie Mocanu and Nicolae Ceban. Paulina Ţurcan, Cristina Blanaru, Paulina Eşanu, Ana Ţuguţchi and Natalia Budeanu are the winners in the women’s competition.

The championship held at the University of Physical Education and Sport involved about 300 judokas.