|
Britain claimed two medals
on the second and final day of the Olympic Test Event at the London
ExCel on Sunday as Sally Conway took silver while Matthew Purssey
captured bronze.
Sally Conway started
her campaign with a bye before defeating Anna Bernholm of Sweden
by a yuko and waza-ari.
The -70kg judoka worked
tirelessly to see off Japan’s Yuko Imai by a yuko score which
led to a semi-final clash against Germany’s reigning European
u23 champpion Laura Vargas Koch.
With two seconds left
on the clock, Sally Conway surged through to the final by ippon.
The final pitted the
British fighter against Brazil’s Maria Portela who saw off a very
spirited challenge from the home judoka who lost out by ippon
in golden score.
In the -90kg category
Matthew Purssey emphatically progressed through the final block
with three straight victories by ippon.
The Edinburgh-based
talent reeled off impressive wins against Czech Republic’s Jan
Jecminek, Netherlands judoka Noel Van T End and Joakim Dvarby
of Sweden.
The semi-final saw Russian
Kamil Magomedov edge out Purssey by two yuko scores which saw
the Brit enter the repechage.
Purssey won his fourth
fight of the day, all coming by way of ippon, against Spain’s
David Ruiz Zajac to capture bronze.
Megan Fletcher finished
in seventh-place after losing her first contest in the repechage
to Clarisse Habricot of France.
International Judo Federation President
Marius L. Vizer said: “The judo tournament of the London 2012
Olympic Games will be an extraordinary worldwide event. All the
ingredients for a great success are present. The organizing committee
(LOCOG), assisted by the IJF technical team, that deploys a great
organisational energy. Finally, the last ingredient, and not the
least, which is the growing media interest for judo today. Yet
there is still work to do to reach the standard we have been setting
for the past four years at the world level."
Day
One report as Sophie Cox takes -57kg bronze
|