It was an improved day in Georgia for GB Judo as the four representatives were able to secure three placed finishes with fifth placed finishes for Nekoda Smythe-Davis and Owen Livesey, along with seventh place for Owen’s sister, Amy Livesey at the Tbilisi Grand Prix.
Following a disappointing first day on Friday in which the team could only return two seventh placed finishes, the judoka knew they needed to improve on the second day in order to be in the hunt for medals in the final block.
It was Nekoda Smythe-Davis‘ first competition back since the Rio Olympics, following wrist surgery. As a result, she decided to make the step up to -63kg for the first time in her career in order to make her return to competition. It was an impressive day from the Ealing judoka as she looked at ease in the early rounds of the competition. She eased aside Mungunchimed Baldorj in the opening round as a single waza-ari settled the contest. The Mongolian is a former Grand Prix Gold medalist at this weight, but had no response to Smythe-Davis’ aggression.
She came up against Italian Edwige Gwend in the Quarter Finals who won bronze at this competition last year. Gwend was able to control the grip on her sleeve in the opening exchanges and Smythe-Davis found herself locked in osaekomi on the mat and couldn’t find a way out as she submitted. This dropped her into the repechage. She was able to defeat Diana Dzhigaros from Russia in Golden Score before coming up against Andreja Leski in the Bronze medal fight. Smythe-Davis couldn’t get going in the medal contest as she fell to an ippon finish via choke from Leski and she couldn’t find a way to escape as she registered a fifth place finish – a very respectable finish in an unfamiliar weight category.
Owen Livesey (-81kg) was making his first Grand Prix appearance since May 2016 and took on Bojan Dosen from Serbia in the 2nd round after receiving a bye in the first. Dosen had a significant height advantage over Livesey and tried to go to ground numerous times to unsettle Livesey, but he did well to defend. Golden Score beckoned and Dosen was penalised for ill-discipline to hand the contest to Livesey. The quarter final followed a similar pattern to his second round match as golden score arrived. This time it was Livesey who received the shido which dropped him into the repechage.
He took on home favourite Ambako Avaliani in the repechage as he continued his hunt for a bronze medal. A lovely throw that deserved more saw him score a waza-ari with a minute and half remaining and it was enough to settle the contest. The bronze medal contest beckoned against Saeid Mollaei. Mollaei took the initiative from the start and Livesey struggled to find a way through the Iranian’s defence. Two shidos later and Livesey had to be careful not to get disqualified. Again another fight to go to golden score, Mollaei was able to roll Livesey onto his back to secure the vital point needed to win the bronze medal.
Amy Livesey (-63kg) is also easing her way back into competition since returning from injury and her seventh placed finish in Tbilisi represented her best placing since her return. Livesey was energetic from the beginning of the first round and effective judo saw her pick up two waza-aris in her first round match against Khanim Huseynova from Azerbaijan. She was able to follow this up with a lovely transition into newaza on the mat and forced her opponent to submit. In the quarter final, she came up against Andrej Leski, who would eventually go on to defeat both of our representatives today. The experienced Russian used her experience as Livesey went for the score but she saw it coming and countered to register to the win and forced Livesey into the repechage. Livesey encountered Kamila Badurova in the repechage but could not find a way past her to finish a respectable seventh place.
Aaron Turner (-73kg) kicked off the action for GB Judo as he faced Zhansay Smagulov from Kazakhstan in the -73kg category. Smagulov finished in the bronze medal position in Tbilisi last year so has experience of competing in Georgia. Turner owned a longer reach over his opponent and tried to use this to his advantage but his opponent repeatedly saw it coming. Smagulov was able to score a single waza-ari that Turner avoided turning into an ippon but this was enough to settle the contest and Turner was eliminated in the first round.
Tomorrow sees Max Stewart return to competition for the first time since the Paris Grand Slam as he is the lone participant for GB Judo on the third and final day of the Tbilisi Grand Prix in the -90kg category.
