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Euan Burton clinched
his first medal of 2012 against the sport’s elite judoka as the
world’s top 16 competed at the IJF World Masters in Almaty, Kazkhstan
on Sunday.
In the -81kg category
Burton, 32, repeated his 2011 IJF World Masters bronze medal in
one of the strongest fields he’ll face all year.
In the first round the
two-time world bronze medallist defeated GB World Cup winner Axel
Clerget of France by ippon.
Burton followed up by
edging 2009 world champion Ivan Nifontov of Russia by yuko.
In the semi-final the
British judoka narrowly lost out by yuko to reigning world and
Olympic champion Elnur Mammadli of Azerbaijan who went on to win
gold.
The defeat saw Burton
take bronze as there is no repechage system in place at the Masters
or Grand Slam events. The hard-fought result earned the Briton
160 world ranking points as he continues to work towards a top-eight
position to be seeded at the Olympic Games.
Euan Burton receives bronze medal at 2012 IJF World Masters
© IJF
In the +78kg category
Karina Bryant, 32, started out by defeating her Beijing conqueror
Mexican Vanessa Zambotti by ippon.
In the second round
the five-time world silver medallist lost out by yuko and then
ippon to three-time world silver medallist and eventual gold medallist
Qian Qin of China.
The fifth-place result
saw Karina receive 80 world ranking points as her rich vein of
form continues.
British Judo Performance
Director Daniel Lascau said: “From my point of view Euan’s result
shows his consistency in training and I’m delighted to see him
win a medal.
"This result really
makes it possible for him to be seeded at the Olympic Games and
that’s the most important thing for him, to be positioned in the
top eight in the world ranking list.
"I was very pleased
to see Karina win her first fight and she needs a little more
time to win medals at these events but we’re making progress and
know these results are very realistic.”
Both Euan Burton (-90kg)
and Karina Bryant (+78kg) will be in action at the 2012 British
Closed Championships on Sunday.
Adult Weekend Ticket:
£10 / Concession (under 16’s and OAP’s) Weekend Ticket: £5
Tickets can be purchased
on the day only at EIS, Sheffield from the BJA ticket desk.
The competition will
start at 10am on both days at EIS Sheffield, Coleridge Road, Sheffield,
S9 5D.
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