Many Olympic and world champions, medalists, European champions, world leaders came to Kosovo to fight for big money prizes. The winner would get €38,5000, silver medalist €24,500, the bronze medalist €14,000, and the fifth place €7,000. 

Kosovo had high hopes in this tournament, as two Olympic champions from Tokyo were among the participants of the women's 57 kg weight category - Nora Gjakova (Olympic champion in 57 kg) and Distria Krasniqi (Olympic champion in 48 kg weight category). But it was Nora’s brother Akil Gjakova who brought a lot of joy to the 3000 spectators gathered in the Palace of Youth and Sports.

A European champion from 2021 and reigning bronze medalist has always been an athlete who could stun every contender. And in Pristina he did the same in the quarterfinal defeating World N1 Hidayat Heydarov from Azerbaijan with waza-ari. He then beat Petru Pelivan from Moldova with ippon and went to the finals against reigning world vice-champion Manuel Lombardo. Gjakova won the fight with waza-ari and became the first champion of the European Championships Open. 

Heydarov went through the repechages and defeated 2012 Olympic champion (66 kg), 2016 bronze medalist (73 kg) and 2020 vice-champion (73 kg) Lasha Shavdatuashvili from Georgia in the bronze medal contest to win the third prize. Another home crowd favourite  Dardan Cena defeated Pelivan and won the second bronze medal.

Meanwhile in women’s 57 kg competition Krasniqi and Nora Gjakova went through the preliminaries and reached the semifinals, but both athletes from Kosovo were stopped at that stage. Eteri Liparteliani from Georgia stunned Gjakova with two Ippons and 2022 European champion Timna Nelson-Levy from Israel defeated Krasniqi with waza-ari. In the final bout the Georgian athlete was the strongest as she won the bout with two waza-aris. Gjakova and Krasniqi managed to win their bronze medal bouts against France’s Priscilla Gneto and Slovenia’s Kaja Kajzer and became bronze medalists. 

“I think I was even better than when I won the European Championship title in 2021. Beating Heydarov gives me a lot of confidence, especially heading into the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. I’ve never had a better day in judo. Winning at home is wonderful. The fans, my family and friends have given me strength. I think that’s why the fights were comparatively easy for me!”, told Akil Gjakova after his triumph. 

Among the first to congratulate him was sister Nora: “I’m really proud of him, he was incredibly focussed in the final and didn’t make a single mistake. That was the best Akil I’ve ever seen. 

I am not entirely satisfied with my bronze medal. I had a lot of pressure – in front of the home crowd. It could have gone better for me. But I’m happy for the team. Four medals, one of them gold, is great for our judo. It feels like a public holiday.”, told Nora Gjakova. 

"The fact that judo is the number one sport in the Republic of Kosovo doesn’t need to be explained to any spectators or foreign guests today. That goes without saying. Such a gathering of political celebrities is remarkable. The organisation of the judo competition premiere in Kosovo was top, the atmosphere unbeatable and the prize money of 300,000 euros extraordinary. I can promise you – in coordination with EJU President László Toth: We will be back next year!" concluded EJU Senior Vice President Otto Kneitinger after the end of the competition.