Jemima Yeats-Brown finished in 7th place on day 2 of the 2016 Zagreb Grand Prix, her highest ever placing at a Grand Prix event.

Yeats-Brown went to Zagreb on the back of a silver medal winning performance at the European Open in Tallinn earlier this month.

The Ryecroft judoka started strongly using her strength and experience to overcome her 19 year old American opponent Nicole Stout in the first round. In a controlled performance Yeats-Brown pinned Stout to score an ippon and win the contest within a minute.

That set up a Pool A decider with top seed Katarzyna Klys of Poland, who was competing in her first event since the Olympics in Rio. The Polish world number 19 who was a silver medallist in Zagreb two years ago, gave an assured performance, with Yeats-Brown this time on the wrong side of an ippon defeat.

That result pushed Yeats-Brown into the repechage where she faced the tall and rangy figure of Aleksandra Samardzic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But it was Samardzic who came out victorious throwing Yeats-Brown for an ippon to go through to the bronze medal match.

Elsewhere, Camberley Judo Club‘s Aaron Turner took on Kosovo’s Kushtrim Gashi in the first contest of the day on Mat 2 in the -73kgs. After a tentative start from both judoka, Turner began to impose himself on his Kovosan opponent. Turner forced Gashi into the corner before pushing him backwards and onto his back to score the decisive waza-ari to take the victory.

That set up a tough second round contest against number two seed Tommy Macias of Sweden. In a feisty and frantic contest Turner was more than a match for the Swede. The pace of the contest intensified as Turner conceded two shidos before being pinned in the corner for an ippon to eliminate him from the competition.

In the -63kgs, Lucy Renshall suffered a first round defeat to Andreja Leski of Slovenia. Renshall conceded a shido early on and as the tie progressed she began to attack more and more in an effort to reverse the score and take the lead. However, Leski picked her moment and threw Renshall for a waza-ari. The timing of the Slovenian’s score so late in the contest gave the SKK Judoka no time to mount a comeback.

On Sunday 25th September, Max Stewart (-90kg) and Philip Awiti-Alcaraz (-100kg) will be looking to join their teammates on the podium with the action starting from 10am GMT. Live coverage will be via the British Judo Live Blog and ippon.tv.

Jemima Yeats-Brown, Lucy Renshall and Aaron Turner will next be in action at the 2016 Glasgow European Open at the Emirates Arena on Saturday 15 October. Tickets are available from as little as £2.50 and all tickets grant you access to both sessions of judo.

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