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Britain’s Colin Oates
and Sophie Cox both won bronze medals on the opening day of the
European Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
Oates, 27, produced
a career-best display to claim his first major medal, a huge accolade
for the -66kg judoka who has previously medalled at World Cup
and European Open events.
“It’s not quite sunk
in yet that I’ve earned a bronze medal, I’m still in shock,” said
Oates after stepping off the medal rostrum.
The Kumo Judo Club fighter
had a bye in the first round before convincingly seeing off Hungarian
Zsolt Gorjanacz by ippon after earlier recording a yuko score.
The Norwich judoka then
defeated Ukraine’s Serhiy Drebot by two waza-ari scores and followed
up with a yuko victory over Romania’s Gheorghe Fasie.
The semi-final saw Oates
lose out to Tarian Karimov of Azerbaijan which led to a bronze
medal fight in the repechage.
A titanic effort from
Oates saw him outwork his French opponent Pierre Duprat. The scores
were still level after golden score but Oates was awarded the
decision on flags.
“In a way I think my
injury (at the start of the year) helped me as I’ve had time to
really focus on technical work and refine my style.
“I’m not just happy
with the way I performed and the medal itself but I was relaxed
and felt really strong. I overpowered fighters such as the Ukranian,
Serhiy Drebot – and he’s a really physical judoka - which is something
I haven’t really managed before.”
Cox, 29, produced some
characteristic tenacious displays as she won four of five contests
en route to her fifth European Championships medal, having previously
won two bronze and two silver at the event.
The Athens Olympian
edged past Frenchwoman Priscilla Gneto in the first round before
beating Albania’s Majlinda Kelmendi, both by a yuko score.
Cox emphatically defeated
Spaniard Ana Carrascosa as she recorded two yuko’s, a waza-ari
and finally an ippon to book a semi-final meeting with Portugal’s
Joana Ramos.
In an absorbing contest
the Bacup Judo Club judoka lost on flags which saw her enter the
repechage and a bronze medal showdown with Finland’s Jaana Sundberg.
The impressive Cox ground
out a hard-fought victory to avenge her 2010 GB World Cup defeat
and take the final place on the medal podium.
Sophie Cox said: “Every
contest today was a really hard-fought battle and took all my
energy.
“It’s been a long road
for me since returning last year, but I was always targeting the
European’s and I’m really pleased to have won the bronze.
“The fact that the bronze
is my fifth medal at the event makes it extra special, especially
with my last being in 2005 before I took a break from the sport.”
British Judo Head Coach
Patrick Roux said: “Today was a very interesting day for us and
we’re very pleased with the results of Colin and Sophie.
“Sophie only narrowly
lost out in the semi-final while Colin also fought with a lot
of effort in his.”
“Both players have a
great work ethic and have improved gradually. They work hard at
the Performance Institute in Dartford and deserved their success
today.”
On Friday Sarah Clark,
Faith Pitman, Danny Williams, Gemma Gibbons, Megan Fletcher, Owen
Livesey, Euan Burton and Tom Reed will all be in action.
Sophie
Cox throwing Ana Carrascosa at the
2011
European Championships
©
David Finch
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