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Britain’s Sophie Cox
and Karina Bryant both emerged from a world-class field to take
bronze medals at the Amsterdam GP.
2011 European bronze medallist
Cox, who took bronze at the Malaga European Cup last weekend on
her comeback from shoulder and elbow injuries, started her competition
against number one seed and world number four Laura Gomez of Spain.
An impressive victory led
to a clash against Maria Garcia from the Dominican Republic which
saw the Athens Olympian grind out a hard-fought win in the last
20 seconds.
Netherlands star Miranda
Wolfslag was next up in the quarter-final and was roared on by
her compatriots at the densely populated venue.
Another polished performance
saw Cox through to the semi-final and a meeting with Japan’s Yuki
Hashimoto. Despite a battling display the teak-tough Briton lost
out by a hold-down.
With no repechage in effect,
losing semi-finalists are automatically awarded the bronze medal
at Grand Prix events as the British standout claimed the first
Grand Prix medal of her career.
In the +78kg category,
British star Karina Bryant, who took gold at the Samoa World Cup
last weekend, was again in fine form as she opened her account
in Amsterdam with a triumph over Italy’s Lucia Tangorre after
a first round bye.
Bryant followed up with
success against German world number 18 Franziska Konitz.
The semi-final saw the
world-renowned judoka narrowly lose out to Chinese starlet Qian
Qin who took silver at the World Championships in August.
Also in +78kg action was
Sarah Adlington who received a bye in the first round. Her first
contest pitted her against world number 25 Gulzhan Issanova of
Kazahkstan.
World number 28 Adlington
produced an important victory as by ending the Kazahkstan's tournament
she stopped her defeated foe from earning any further World Ranking
List points while gaining four points for the win and progressing
to the next round.
Adlington lost out in
the quarter-final to eventual silver medallist Qian Qin to finish
in fifth-place.
An updated IJF World Ranking
List will be available here
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