Dylan Munro finishes 7th at the Zagreb European Open as 17 British fighters were in action
This weekend Croatia welcomed over 480 fighters to the Zagreb European Open, with 17 British fighters in action over the two-day competition.
For many of the British fighters who competed, this was their first competition in well over 12 months.
Dylan Munro was the best performer of the weekend finishing 7th in the -60kg category. Munro, who was drawn in Pool B, defeated Szymon Smiegel (POL), Biagio D’Angelo (ITA) and Pedro Gomez-Llorens (ESP), all by ippon score, in the opening three rounds. He was defeated in the Quarter-Final by Roie Rosen (ISR), who later went on to win gold, and David Starkel (SLO) in the Repechage.
Also, in the -60kg category, Daniel Rabbitt defeated Borja Pahisa-Pastor (ESP) in Round 2, following an opening round bye, before defeat by David Naji (HUN), whilst David Ferguson was defeated by eventual silver medallist, Antonin Dvoracek (CZE) in the opening round.
Gregg Varey defeated Victor Van Gerven (NED) in the second round of the -66kg category, following an opening round bye, but was defeated by Adrian Olaru (ROU) in Round 3.
Elsewhere in the -66kg category Neil MacDonald, Alexander Short and Joshua Bell were all defeated in the opening round but Yevhen Honcharko (UKR), Viljar Lipard (EST) and Samuel Salvo (ITA) respectively.
Lele Nairne, competing for the first time since picking up an injury at the 2019 World Championships, defeated Lucja Obal (POL) in the second round of the -57kg category, following an opening round bye. She was narrowly defeated by Amey Ines (SUI) by a single waza-ari score in Round 3.
Also, in the -57kg category, Stephanie Walker was defeated by Flaka Loxha (KOS) in Round 2, following an opening round bye.
Competing in the -63kg category, Jasmine Hacker-Jones was defeated by Lia Ludvik (SLO) in Round 2, following an opening round bye. Hacker-Jones was defeated by ippon score but did score a waza-ari earlier in the contest. Gwenllian Northall was also defeated in the second round, following an opening round bye, by Adelina Novitzki (ISR).
In the -73kg category Josef Lynch defeated Aitor Goikoetxea-Alonso (ESP) in the opening round, but unfortunately amassed three penalty shidos in his second-round contest against Vladyslav Kolobov (UKR). Oliver Short, who was making his senior international debut, defeated Yordan Todorov (BUL) in the opening round, a single waza-ari score enough to see him progress to Round 2 where he was defeated by Niam Matt (SUI).
In the -81kg category, both Daniel Pacitti and Scott Cusack had opening round byes. Cusack defeated Alexandr Sojka (CZE) in Round 2 but was defeated by Aljaz Gostencnik (SLO) in Round 3 whilst Pacitti was defeated by Tim Demsar (SLO) in Round 2.
Rachel Tytler, who was the sole female British representative on the final days action, competing in the -78kg category, was defeated in her opening round contest against Anna Kazakova (UKR).
Competing in the -100kg contest, Cailin Calder, was defeated by Kevyn Perna (ITA) by a single waza-ari score in the opening round.
