GB’s Megan Fletcher GB’s Megan Fletcher beat Russian Margarita Gurtsieva by ippon before losing by a yuko to World no 8 Onix Cortes Aldama of Cuba in the women’s -70kg contest at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia. She then faced Japan’s Karan Nun-Ira in the repechage who scored two Waza-aris for ippon, knocking Megan out the competition today (Monday, 8 July)

Speaking after the fight Megan said: “I was really pleased to beat the Russian first round, as she is quite a strong player. I was disappointed to lose against the Cuban, but feel with small improvements next time I will be able to win as it was quite close. Against the Japanese contestant in the repechage, I made a silly mistake which resulted in a big consequence in newaza resulting in me getting held down for ippon. These are things that I will be able to work on when I get home over the summer and be back strong for the autumn World Cups and Grand Prix”

Meanwhile, the Miami Miami Grand Prix Champion Tom Reed (81kg) who also fought today made an early exit after being narrowly defeated by a single shido by Russian Murat Khabachirob.

Speaking about his performance, he said: “Kazan 2013 has been a good experience in many ways but the competition today was very disappointing. After the fight against the Russian I feel frustrated as I know I was capable of winning, which would have been a good springboard to progress on through the rounds. Though this level of Judo is often won or lost on the smallest of margins. I’ll look back on this as an missed opportunity at a medal but will learn a lot from the fight itself and the whole games experience. I’m looking forward to getting back to training towards my next goals”

Patrick Dawson (-73kg) is due to fight tomorrow.: “As my first World University Games experience I’m enjoying the village, especially the food hall!”, he said. “Looking forward to fighting tomorrow as the atmosphere there today was pretty cool. The competition is strong with Japanese and French opposition here. Down to weight now so just relaxing until its weigh-in time at 7pm this evening.”

Watch the action at http://russiasport.ru/video_hub/node/755330. and get the results at http://kazan2013.ru/en

Words by Donna Richardson.