Nahapetyan Wins Armenian Final at the 2026 European Judo Cup

From April 25 to 27, the 2026 European Judo Cup for athletes under 20 was held in Kaunas, Lithuania. The Armenian national team competed at the tournament with five judokas and won two medals — one gold and one silver.

The main highlight for the Armenian team was the final in the under 60 kg weight category, where two representatives of Armenia faced each other — Hayk Darbinyan and Shavarsh Naapetyan. Naapetyan won the all-Armenian final and claimed the gold medal. Darbinyan became the silver medalist of the tournament.

On his way to the final, Hayk Darbinyan defeated opponents from Ukraine, France, and Latvia, and in the semifinal he overcame a representative of Great Britain. In the decisive bout, he lost to his compatriot Shavarsh Nahapetyan.

Nahapetyan, for his part, delivered a confident performance throughout the tournament, earning victories over a British judoka as well as athletes from Poland, Ukraine, and France. Four of the Armenian athlete’s five victories came ahead of time by ippon.

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Two other representatives of the Armenian national team, Leva Srapyan and Arshak Bekhchyan, competed in the under 66 kg weight category and came close to winning medals. Both judokas reached the quarterfinals, where they were defeated.

Zhirayr Gambaryan, who competed in the under 73 kg category, earned one victory and ended his campaign at the Round of 32 stage.