Three bronze medals for British Judo at the IBSA European Championships
At the IBSA European Championships in Genoa, Italy, Elliot Stewart, Chris Skelley and Jack Hodgson all won bronze medals, with Daniel Powell narrowly missing out on a medal finishing 5th.
Elliot Stewart (-90kg) defeated Avtandil Kirkitadze (GEO) in the quarter-finals to win his Pool and set up a semi-final match against World Champion Oleksandr Nazarenko (UKR). World number 1 Nazarenko drew upon his experience to defeat Stewart and relegate him to the bronze medal match, where he faced Vladimir Fedin (UKR). Stewart threw his opponent for ippon and win the bronze medal.
Chris Skelley (-100kg) had a bye in the opening round before defeating Inigo Gerboles-Lopes (ESP) in the quarter-finals to win his Pool and progress to the semi-finals to face multiple World and European medallist, including gold in 2014 and 2015, Abdula Kuramagomedov (RUS). The vastly experienced Russian showed his experience in defeating Skelley to progress to the final, and eventually win gold, relegating the Briton to the bronze medal match where he would fight Oleksandr Pominov (UKR). It took Skelley a little over 90seconds to dispose of his opponent and claim the bronze.
Jack Hodgson (+100kg) had a long wait for his first match against Revaz Chikoidze (GEO) in the semi-final. Unfortunately, Hodgson was defeated and progressed to the Repechage to face Romuald Raboteur (FRA) in the bronze medal match. In a closely contested match, it was Hodgson who in the final seconds on the fight threw his opponent for ippon to win the bronze.
Dan Powell (-81kg) defeated Petre Prundaru (ROU) in the opening round to set up a quarter-final match against World Championship bronze medallist Nathan Petit (FRA). The experience of the French player proved decisive as he defeated Powell to progress to the semi-finals. Powell was progressed to the Repechage where he defeated Michele Milli (ITA) and Tarieli Udzilauri (GEO) to set up a bronze medal match against Huseyn Rahimli (AZE). Unfortunately Powell missed out on a medal after being defeated by Rahimli, meaning Powell finished in 5th position.
Natalie Greenhough (-70kg) was defeated by world number 6 Raziye Ulucam (TUR) in the quarter-final and was progressed to the Repechage to face Elena Popova (RUS). She was unfortunately defeated and finished in 7th position.
Evan Molloy (-81kg) competing in only his second competition at his new weight category was defeated by Rio Paralympic silver medallist Dmytro Solovey (UKR).
Connah Anders (-66kg) was the first British Judoka to take to the mats on Friday and was handed a tough draw opening his campaign against world number 2 and World Championship bronze medallist Giorgi Gamjashvili (GEO). Unfortunately, Anders was defeated but was progressed to the Repechage where he faced another tough match against former European Championship silver and bronze medallist Viktor Rudenko (RUS). The young Briton gave a great account of himself but was unfortunately defeated by his vastly more experienced opponent.
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