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Britain
won four gold medals at the 2008 GB World Cup for women, with
Faith Pitman, Colleen Kerr, Sally Conway and Sarah Aldington securing
the top spots in the -57kg, -63kg, -70kg and +78kg weight categories
respectively.
The event, which took
place at Birmingham’s NIA on Saturday 20 th September, attracted
competitors from 13 nations, but as expected, due to fielding
the largest squad, Britain finished in the medal table top position
with 13 medals won.
In the -48kg weight
category, Britain’s Emily Hickman finished in silver behind the
experienced Isabel Latulippe of Canada.
Britain also finished
with silver in the -52kg weight category when Sophie Johnstone
lost in the final to Marie Muller of Luxembourg. But Johnstone
was pleased with her performance saying afterwards, “This is my
first World Cup medal so I am happy. I won my first three fights
by ippon and the girl I beat in my semi-final I had lost to before,
so that was a good achievement.
“The crowd have been
great”, she added. Also in the -52kg weight category, Louise
Renicks won bronze.
Faith Pitman, who was
also presented with the Simon Hicks Player of the Tournament Trophy,
won gold in the -57kg weight category, beating Viola Waechter
of Germany in the final. Afterwards she said, “I am really pleased
to get gold. You never 100% expect it, but I would have been disappointed
if I hadn’t won. It was fun to compete in front of a home crowd,
who gave me great support, especially as this is my first World
Cup gold”.
©
David Finch
Britain secured both
a gold and silver berth in the -63kg weight category when Colleen
Kerr beat Connie Ramsey in the final.
Afterwards Colleen Kerr
said,”I am pleased to win gold. I didn’t expect it at the start
of the day but it is great that I did. Mentally I felt very good
today. Sometimes you just wake up and you feel it and it just
happens.
World junior silver
medallist Sally Conway, a regular on the European World Cup circuit
over the last 18 months, won gold in the -70kg weight category.
Conway beat Elina Paulman of Finland by ippon to win the contest,
a reversal of the last time the pair met at the 2007 Super World
Cup in Rotterdam. “When I arrived today I was hoping for gold
but I am so pleased I managed to do it. I’ve lost to Paulman before
at the Rotterdam Super World Cup so it was great to beat her today.
It was hard to fight the other Brits but I think I did well in
the final, and I am pleased with my performance.
“It was brilliant competing
in front of a home crowd and they gave me fantastic support”,
she added. Britain also won two bronze medals in the -70kg weight
category from Michelle Holt and Gemma Gibbons.
In the -78kg weight
category Nina Cutro-Kelly of the USA won silver behind Germany’s
Jana Stucke. Britain’ Sam Lowe, who recently moved up from the
-70kg weight category, won bronze, while Canada’s Amy Cotton clinched
the other bronze on offer, edging out Britain’s Katie Dean who
finished in 5 th.
Sarah Adlington won
Britain’s final gold of the day in the +78kg weight category.
Afterwards she said, “I was hoping to get gold so I am glad that
I achieved that. It is harder to fight at home as there is more
pressure, but I competed in this event in 2006 so that was good
experience. It is very different this year though because it was
on one mat and it as very intense.”
Also in the +78kg weight
category, Louise Little finished with silver and Simone Callender
with bronze.
©
David Finch
A one hour
highlights programme of the event will be broadcast on Sky on
the following dates:
Wednesday 8 th October:
20:00 (Sky Sports Xtra), 24:00 (Sky Sports Xtra)
Thursday 9 th October:
05:00 (Sky Sports Xtra), 08:00 (Sky Sports 3 Digital), 12:00 (Sky
Sports Xtra)
During the same weekend,
the men were in action at the 2008 Norway World Cup where Britain
picked up five medals - gold from Colin Oates (-66kg), silver
from James Millar (60kg), plus three bronzes from Ian Feenan (-73kg),
Matthew Purssey (-81kg) and Tom Reed (-81kg).
The GB Judo World Cup
was organised by British Judo and supported by Birmingham City
Council and funded by the National Lottery through UK Sport’s
World Class Events Programme. Other event partners included BBC
WM, Fighting Films, Blitz Sport, Sport England and Renault.
Media Contact:
Emma Griffin
British Judo
(e) emmagriffin@britishjudo.org.uk
(t) 07875 368495
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