Skelley and Powell claim European silver medals
GB Judo won three medals on the second day at the IBSA European Championships in Rotterdam as Chris Skelley, Daniel Powell and Evan Molloy all secured their place on the podium.
Tokyo Paralympic champion Chris Skelley (Haltemprice JC) claimed silver early in the day in the J2 +90kg category whilst Daniel Powell claimed silver in the J1 -90kg category.
The pair were joined on the podium by Evan Molloy (Mark Burbridge; Devizes JC) who won his first major championship medal in the J2 -90kg category.
Skelley was joined by teammate Jack Hodgson (Terry Alltoft; Grimsby Judo Club), who was making his return to the tatami following 12 months on the sidelines. The pair faced each other in their opening contest and unsurprisingly, cancelled each other out. The contest entered Golden Score where Skelley threw his teammate for ippon score in the opening exchange.
Skelley was defeated by eventual gold medallist Revaz Chikoidze (GEO) in his second contest before securing silver with a victory against Ibrahim Bolukbasi (TUR).
Reflecting on the day, Skelley said: “I’ve come here to win, I’ll be honest with you. I’m an athlete, a fighter. I want to win. So, it was not good enough to be honest. Hats off to Chikoidze, who is a really good and strong fighter. But I will go back and work really hard to beat him next time.”
“I felt really fit today. The fitness was really there. There were just some tactical errors I made personally. I will work on that for next time.”
Daniel Powell in action at the European Para Championships in Ahoy, Rotterdam ©EPC2023
Powell entered as the number one seed and comfortably progressed to the final where he faced Oleg Cretul (MDA). Powell dominated the contest but looked to pick up an injury in the closing seconds of the contest when attempting to leg-sweep his opponent.
Powell continued to battle hard in Golden Score and continued to dominate the contest, but was unfortunately disqualified via a handsoku-make for hooking his foot from the back to the front. The result meant Powell had to settle for silver, which was a career-best performance for the Brit at the European Championships.
Speaking after the final, Powell said: “Losing and ending up with silver is mixed emotions but on the all, I am quite happy with my performance.”
On missing out on gold: “It’s bittersweet really. I felt I was doing well in the fight and I felt I was leading it. Going into the golden score I trusted my fitness. Getting knocked and getting an injury at that time, was very difficult to handle.”
Molloy entered as the number three seed and certainly lived up to his ranking. The young Brit comfortably defeated Hidayet Sevinc (TUR) in the Quarter-Final following an opening-round bye.
Molloy was defeated by former Olympic Champion Oleksandr Nazarenko (UKR) in the Semi-Final, meaning he progressed to the bronze medal contest to face Simone Cannizzaro (ITA). Molloy dominated the contest and with 75 seconds remaining, countered a Cannizzaro attack to register an ippon score and secure the bronze medal.
A visibly overjoyed Molloy ran into the crowd to celebrate with teammates and support staff following the contest.
On the opening day, Connah Anders (Fitzroy Davies; Hardy Spicer 83) matched his best result at the European Championships. Anders defeated Pierre Voisin (FRA) in the Quarter-Final with a throw for ippon score in the opening 13-seconds of the contest but defeats against number one seed Florin Alexandru Bologa (ROU) in the Semi-Final and Djibrilo Iafa (POR) in the bronze medal contest saw the J1 -73kg judoka place 5th.
Elsewhere, there was a 3rd place finish for Kirsten Taylor (David Scobie; Tayside JC) in the J2 +70kg category and 4th for Hodgson. Taylor competed in a round-robin against Prescillia Leze (FRA) and Dursadaf Karimova (AZE).
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