Israeli athletes come home with 7 medals from European Games in Minsk
Israel’s delegation to the European Games in Minsk came home with seven medals, an impressive achievement that far exceeded the team’s initial expectations.
Linoy Ashram. Source: Photo by Ayelet Zussman/Wikimedia Commons.
The Israeli delegation included 32 athletes, 15 women and 17 men, who competed in 10 sports including cycling, boxing, acrobatics, badminton, judo, wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics, shooting and archery.
According to the team’s preliminary forecast, Israeli athletes would receive three or four medals from the gymnastics and judo classes, and that Israeli athletes would reach four or five finals.
However, Israel’s athletes won seven medals in the Minsk Games, a remarkable accomplishment surpassing the previous professional expectations.
Linoy Ashram won four medals in gymnastics, two gold and two silver.
Sergey Richter won a gold medal in shooting and qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Judoka Lee Kochman won a silver medal and Misha Zilberman won a bronze medal in badminton.
Zilberman is trained by his 61-year-old mother Svetlana, who also paired up with him during some of the competitions.
“For us, playing the mixed [doubles] is just a bit of fun because the main focus for me is singles,” said Zilberman. “It’s a magic moment, son and mum competing at a European Games. We actually didn’t try to qualify but our ranking was good enough so we decided to compete anyway.”
Israeli athletes in Minsk have reached seven finals, and this achievement also exceeded the initial expectations.
In total, Israel was ranked 19th out of 43 in the number of medals it received.
The Israeli delegation to the 2nd European Games was “a high-quality delegation that met the professional expectations and even more in four different sectors, including the achievement the required quota and a meeting the criteria for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020,” said delegation head Danny Oren.
In 10 sports, the achievements are part of points counted towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The European Games, held once every four years and held about a year before the Olympic Games, are an excellent simulation for the Olympic Games and are excellent preparation for athletes and staff.
About 4,000 athletes from 50 countries competed in 15 sports.
