Tough defeat for Schlesinger in Astana

Alice Schlesinger (-63kg) was knocked out in the second round on day four of the 2015 World Judo Championships in Astana by Juul FRANSSEN of the Netherlands.

After having a bye in the first round, Schlesinger had to wait for the outcome of the FRANSSEN-Gulnar HAYYTBAEVA (TKM) contest which the Dutch athlete won by yuko.

The British fighter dominated the early stages of her second round fight and was leading by three shidos going into the final minute but a late yuko by Franssen secured her passage into the next round.

GB Elite Performance Coach Kate Howey said: “Today didn’t go as well as expected for Alice but considering she tore her hamstring six weeks ago in Russia she did well to be here in Astana.

“Having said that though to be 3 shidos up with a minute to go, Alice should have seen the fight out and it’s disappointing that she didn’t win this fight. Going forward she has a lot of work to do on her gripping and defence when she is ahead in a fight to see it out.

“She will get married in two weeks and start training again for Uzbekistan GP in the first week of October and carry on collecting Rio qualification points.”

2015 Baku Grand Slam winner Sally CONWAY (-70kg), 2015 IJF Masters silver medallist Natalie POWELL (-78kg) and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Gemma GIBBONS (-78kg) are all in action tomorrow.

The contests start from 0600 GMT and can be watched LIVE and FREE on Ippon.tv