The old year ended very positively for karate ace Marina Vukovic with a third place in Venice in her last U21 championship. She started the new calendar year at the weekend at the Series A tournament in Athens with a place in the round of 16.
The start of the new year was very mixed for the Austrian karateka. At the Series A tournament (second highest category behind the Premier League) in Athens, no one made it past the round of 16. The highlight was Pinzgau’s Marina Vukovic’s ticket to the round of 16 in the category up to 68 kilograms. The 20-year-old delivered the top result at the start in Athens, Greece, with her entry into the round of 16. After a bye, she defeated the Swiss Sara Deuble 2-0 and then had to admit defeat to the pool winner Janessa Fonseca from Puerto Rico 0-6. They lost in the semi-finals due to bad luck. So Vukovic’s chances of fighting for bronze were gone. “The opponent was a machine.” Nevertheless, the Pinzgau resident was satisfied: “On the whole, the performance was okay. I was able to gain a lot of experience and learn a lot and I am grateful for it. The opponent I lost to is really a machine and I can learn a lot from the fight.” She is now hoping for a starting place in the Premier League in Paris on January 26th. Because she gets it if someone in the ranking ahead of her gets sick or is injured. “The chances here are relatively good that I can still start. “So only 32 athletes are allowed to start in each category in the Premier League,” explains Vukovic. With Nina Schuster and Emma Schütze, two other Salzburg athletes competed in the over 68 kilogram category. Both were eliminated in the second round. The young aces now continue with the Champions Cup on Saturday in Hard (Vorarlberg). The A team will be put to the test on January 26th at the Premier League opener in the French capital Paris.
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