Alice Schlesinger’s seventh was the highlight for British Judo on the second day of the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam on Saturday 31 October at the IPIC Arena.

Schlesinger (-63kg) started her day with a good win over Mariana Silva (BRA) as she forced the world ranked top 20 judoka to tap out thanks to an armlock with a little under 90 seconds left in the contest. Her third round contest with Sweden’s Anna Bernholm was a tough encounter with the British judoka scoring a yuko with less than a minute to move into the last eight.

Her opponent in the quarter-final was the world ranked No.2 Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA) and unsurprisingly the French athlete proved to be a more than solid opponent in a fast-paced contest as she held down Schlesinger to score for yuko and that proved enough to put the British judoka into the repechage where she faced Anicka Van Emden (NED).

Despite attacking and controlling the majority of the match, Schlesinger was caught with a minute to go and thrown for yuko and that was enough for the Dutch judoka as she secured a spot in the bronze medal contest.

Elite Performance Coach Kate Howey said: “Alice fought well today and it’s the best performance she has had in months. She beat the Brazilian with an armlock and then threw the Swede in her second fight.

“The fight against the French girl was really good and an improvement from Croatia Grand Prix. She was composed and tactically stuck to the fight plan. Her fight with the Dutch girl was also good and she lost on a yuko.

“She lost to the World number 2 and number 8 but improvements were made and with the seventh place she has gained 80 more points towards Rio.”

In the -70kg Sally Conway was looking to back up her strong showing in Paris and she made a strong start as she held down Khulan Balbaatar (MGL) for ippon. Her third round contest put her up against Katarzyna Klys (POL) and the match into golden score where Conway was given a shido and missed out on a place in the last eight.

Sunday will see Natalie Powell (-78kg), Gemma Gibbons (-78kg) and Ben Fletcher (-100kg) in action at the IPIC Arena. Don’t forget to watch all the action live on ippon.tv from 6AM GMT and follow @BritishJudo on Twitter for updates.