It has been a busy start for the GB Judo squad as the judo season officially kicked off in January, and following tournaments in Rome, Paris, Sofi, Oberwart, Dusseldorf and a hectic Cadet programme, the judoka have brought back several medals.

Ben Fletcher (-100kg) – Bronze, Rome (ITA) European Open

Seeded No.1 for his weight category, Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher was looking to add his first world rankings points of the year as he looks to improve his world ranking of 29. His closest competition was likely to come from France’s Celement Delvert, who is ranked 10 spots lower at 39 in the world. A podium finish was Ben’s first placed in Continental competition since March 2016 when he was triumphant in the African Open held in Casablanca.

In Rome, he made short work of his way through the early rounds as he brushed past early competitors Maximilian Hageneder (AUT), Vincenzo D’Arco (ITA); throwing for ippon in each of these contests for the loss of just one shido. He then came up against eventual silver medalist Johannes Frey (GER) and lost by a single wazari. Not to be out done, Fletcher used all of his experience to oust home favourite Italian Giuiliano Loporchio to bring back the medal.

Gemma Howell (-70kg) – Oberwart (AUT) European Open

Gemma Howell (-70kg) flew the GB flag in Oberwart, Austria as she found herself fighting in the bronze medal contest as the Wolverhampton judoka won her two opening fights via ippon to move into the quarter final. Howell came up against World No.5 Kelita Zupancic (CAN) and fell into the repechage.

A quick victory over Brazilian Barbara Timo meant she would be fighting for bronze against Alica Bellandi (ITA) and she pulled off a great victory throwing for waz-ari before finishing the contest with 60 seconds with some great newaza.

There was also medal success at the Belgian Ladies Open Arlon with Gemma Howell and Acelya Toprak both medalling in the senior competition on Sunday 5 February with gold and silver respectively.

Howell, fighting at -70kg, was entered in her first competition since the Tbilisi Grand Prix last year and displayed her superb conditioning on her way to the final as she won two golden score contests in a row with despite having only ten minutes’ rest in between.

At the Vise International Open in Belgium, Owen Livesey (-81kg) made his return to international competition with a silver medal. The Camberley judoka just missed out a gold medal as he lost a golden score contest to Germany’s Dominic Ressel. There was also a fifth place for Andrew Melbourne at +100kg.

 

Lucy Renshall (-63kg) – Sofia (BUL) European Open

Lucy Renshall made a strong start to 2017 with a hard fought silver medal at the Sofia European Open in Bulgaria.

The SKK judoka had won gold at her previous two European Opens in Glasgow and Tallinn last year and got off to the best possible start as she saw off Lei Reimann (GER) inside the first minute and half as she forced the German to tap out via Sankaku.

She followed that up with a dominant win over Inbal Shemsh (ISR) throwing her opponent for two waza-ari before finishing the contest on the ground as she held her for osaekomi. The semi-final with Vivian Hermann (GER) followed a similar pattern as Renshall demonstrated her ability to score in both tachiwaza and newaza going ahead by waza-ari before finishing the contest on the ground.

Japan’s Shiori Sato had been impressive throughout winning all but one of her contests by ippon and she proved too good for Renshall on the day. Neither fighter could be separated by a score at the end of regulation time and in golden score the Japanese fighter’s superior attack rate saw Renshall pick up a third shido to lose out on gold.

Cadet European Cup, Fuengirola (Spain)

Amy Platten (3rd) and Yasmin Javadian (2nd) continued their fine recent form with a bronze and silver medal respectively this weekend. The pair both medalled last week in their previous competitions at Italy. There was also a silver medal for Daniel Rabbitt (Silver, -55kg) and placings for Thomas Lish (7th, -90kg), Beau Farrance and Matthew Boyce (both 7th, +90kg), and Emily Cooper (5th, -63kg). The team will be hoping that they can continue their fine start to 2017, once the Antalya European Cup arrives on 4th and 5th March.

VI Medal Success – German Open

British judoka came away with six medals at the Visually Impaired German Open in Heidelberg for the first VI competition of the year.

Chris Skelley and Natalie Greenhough were among the returning Paralympians in the field on Saturday. Both were fighting in a VI judo competition for the first time since last year’s Paralympic Games though Skelley had fought at the Scottish Open in January, finishing with silver in a sighted field.

Hull judoka Skelley was in impressive form throughout the day winning his first four contests by ippon with a good mix of standing judo and ground work including a win over home judoka Oliver Upmann, who he also beat at the Paralympics last year.

However, in his final contest of the day he lost to American judoka Ben Goodrich, who had moved down from +100kg after last year’s Paralympics. The British fighter tried to recycle in ne-waza and found himself caught on the ground and held down for 20 seconds to finish with a silver medal.

Natalie Greenhough was in action -70kg and showed great improvement in her judo but was unable to get the better of Olga Zabrodskaya (RUS) and finished with silver.

Victoria Howarth also finished with silver at +70kg on her VI Judo debut, having transitioned from Para-Equestrian while Evan Molloy (-73kg) finished just outside the medals in fifth place.

Molloy had a very impressive day in the Junior competition as he won gold at -73kg. The Bath judoka won each of his four fights by ippon to top the podium while fellow GB judoka Cameron Bradley took home bronze.

Welsh judoka Sam Price (-60kg) was also making his debut at international VI judo level and came away with a silver medal in the Junior -60kg competition. Price, won three of his fights by ippon but came undone against Spanish judoka Sergio Ibanez.