The national anthem of Great Britain was played at last in the Exhibition Hall Burgenlandhalle in Oberwart (Austria) during the 2015 Junior European Championships on Saturday 19 September. Besides the golden moment delivered by Lucy RENSHALL, Lubjana PIOVESANA and Stuart MCWATT (-81kg) both finished in credible fifth places. 

British Judo’s strong duet of Renshall and Piovesana were battling through the -63kg category. First on was Lucy RENSHALL against Margarita MUSTEA (MDA). A well executed right sided ouch-gari helped the British fighter book a spot in the quarters where she defeated Buga KOVAC (CRO) by one of her dominant ne-waza technique, sangaku-waza.

Meanwhile the other part of the duet, Lubjana PIOVESANA (GBR) overcame Kamila BADUROVA (RUS) and Adela JAKUBCOVA (SVK). This led to an all British affair in the semi-final. Up to the very last second it was Piovesana in the driving seat after a single penalty was picked up by her team-mate, Renshall. But in the very last second, Renshall countered Piovesana for yuko to take a spot in the final.

Walking through the lower half of the draw was number two seeded and 2014 Junior Europeans bronze winner, Elisavet TELTSIDOU (GRE). The final contest seen a close match up between the two of them and not until after the first minutes of the golden score that Renshall pulled out a gold winning right sided ouchi-gari. “I am really happy; I don’t know what to say. It is amazing. I wanted to come here and medal and of course at the back of my mind I wanted to win it and here I am now with the gold medal. 

“Mentally the semi-final was my hardest contest against my friend and my team-mate, Lubjana, however physically and technically the final was the toughest of all”, she added. 

“The team for the Junior Worlds Championships is not out yet but I hope that my winning performance today will help me to be in consideration for the event”, Renshall concluded.

Junior head-coach, Jamie Johnson added his thoughts regarding the second and final day: “As I said yesterday we are capable of finishing the day with one to three medals and finishing the day with a gold and two fifth I think it is not bad at all. Both players who finished fifth places are still first year juniors and they are already in the final block so that is promising for the upcoming years. For Lucy, I think it was important to win a medal as it was her last year amongst the juniors and she not only took a medal but won the tournament.” 

Photo: EJU