Estonia proved to be a happy hunting ground for British judoka as four came away with medals at the Tallinn European Open on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September.

Lucy Renshall’s gold at -63kg was arguably the highlight as she picked up her second senior Continental Open medal after a bronze in Lisbon last year.

The 2015 Junior European champion was too strong for Geke Van Den Berg (NED) as she went ahead by waza-ari before an ippon score ended the contest. Israel’s Rotem Shor was next up and Renshall found herself down on shidos before scoring a late yuko in the final minute to secure passage into the semi-finals.

There she faced Belarussian Daniela Kazanoi and in another tight contest the British judoka came out on top with a single yuko proving the difference. Austria’s Magdalena Krssakova stood in Renshall’s way and this time a waza-ari to the British judoka ensured she picked up her maiden senior international title.

Bekky Livesey (-57kg) picked up her second Continental medal of the year as some strong performances during the day saw her come away with a well-deserved silver medal. Livesey came through her first two contests with Margriet Bergstra (NED) and Anna Borowska (POL) with minimal fuss including a 37 second win over the Polish fighter.

Her semi-final with Israel’s Adi Grossman was a very tactical affair with neither judoka able to get on the scoreboard at the end of regulation time. In golden score Livesey’s superior contest management saw Grossman pick up a shido putting the British judoka into the final.

Amelie Stoll (GER) was her opponent in the final and the German’s impressive newaza was decisive as Livesey was forced to tap out leaving her with the silver medal.

Kelly Edwards (-52kg) continued her return from concussion with bronze. A lung-bursting opening contest with Anja Lunding (DEN) was eventually finished 3 minutes and 22 seconds into golden score as Edwards rolled her opponent for waza-ari.

The British judoka then just missed out in the semi-finals to Germany’s Ines Beischmidt on shidos but she came back well to win an exciting bronze medal contest with Madelene Rubinstein (NOR). After going behind by waza-ari Edwards levelled the score with a lovely bit of judo before forcing her opponent to tap out on the ground.

Jemima Yeats-Brown picked up her second Continental Open medal at -70kg as she through against Sandra Lickun (POL) and Emilie Sook (DEN) before Sweden’s Anna Bernholm proved too strong in the final.

There was also a fifth place for Sam Hall (-66kg) in his best result so far at a senior world-ranking event while Ebony Drysdale-Daley finished seventh at -70kg.

Picture credit: Martin Kraus, EJU