Twenty-four year old Sofia Asvesta (CYP) has been climbing the draws of the World Judo Tour for some time, working hard to take steps forward, no matter how small. This year, in Paris, she reached the bronze medal contest. It wasn’t her first but a Paris medal fight is not nothing. She has been tantalisingly close to the podium but that first medal still evades her.
In 2024 she placed 7th twice and then placed 5th in Dushanbe as well as at the Zagreb European Championships. 2025 has arrived and Asvesta continues to put the work in, culminating in a 5th place in Paris at her first outing of the year.
“I’m a little disappointed to be so close to the medals, I’m so near to it,” said Asvesta. “Last year our focus was to qualify for the Olympic Games and so it was all about winning even just one fight. I needed points, points, points. Now I understand I have a full 4 years in this new cycle and I don’t need to rush or to run, I can go step by step.
I wasn’t sure I would do so well in Paris as I rested after making mistakes at the Olympics. I saw my chance at the Games and then I lost so I know I wasn’t mentally ready. Since I wanted to chill and not have pressure so here I fought just as I do in my training. I felt good and I knew I had the chance for it to be my day. It was close."
"I try to make the correct plan for each event and for the whole calendar with my coach. I must focused on my mistakes too and fix these things. I’m taking longer breaks between events now to ensure good preparation. I have to see how it works out because I haven’t worked like this before. If it helps, I will continue like this and so far it seems good.
I spend a lot of time in Italy and the training is different from my other usual training bases. This means I have to be clear on how I want to train and I must focus in the right way. I have a lot of options because I have Naguchev as my technical coach and we work well. I want to stay in line with his guidance even if I am not always with him.
Christos is the best coach in Cyprus and he really understands the road we take. He understands the high level and travels with us everywhere. The level of our team has really started to rise. We used to be just one or two but now we have 5 or 6 athletes who can work at this level. We aspire to work as well as the bigger countries do. We don’t want to be the easy fight and so we work to be the best we can. It is having an effect."
"I think we started in a good way for 2025 and I hope that without injuries we can continue like this.”
Sofia Asvesta is due to compete in Tbilisi next, ahead of the 2025 European Championships in Montenegro.