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Euan
Burton has won his second World bronze medal on day two of the
2010 World Championships, held in Tokyo, Japan from 9th – 13th
September.
The
bronze medal is Britain’s first of the Championships and was won
in the busy -81kg competition, which saw 79 competitors fight
it out on the World stage.
The
increase in competitors is a result of the International Judo
Federation’s rule change, making it possible for each nation to
enter two players per weight category.
Many
weight categories reached historical numbers of participants for
a competition of that level, making it an even tougher job to
become a World medallist in 2010.
The
three-time European medallist stormed through his preliminary
round fights, first off winning against German Velazco from Peru.
After
the fight, Burton said, “I didn’t actually know a huge amount
about Valazco, but I was told he was making a come-back and was
a World Junior silver medallist back in his day. So I knew he
was going to be a bit dangerous and he was at the start of the
fight but I managed to score two waza-ari’s for the win.”
The
second round saw the Brit up against Farkhod Rakhimov of Tajikistan.
The fight went to full-time and Burton won by a yuko point.
Progressing
to the third round, Burton fought Safouane of Morocco, and took
a third win, this time by ippon.
In
the fourth round the Brit, who trains full-time at JudoScotland’s
National Training Centre, which is part of the British Judo Performance
Network, continued his winning streak and beat Travis Stevens
of the USA.
Fighting
in the quarter-final, Burton faced the host nation’s Mashahiro
Takamatsu.
With
the huge Japanese crowd behind him, Takamatsu won the fight and
progressed to the semi-final.
Burton
was left to fight it out through the repechage, firstly against
former World Champion Guillaume Elmont of the Netherlands. Elmont
is an opponent he has fought many times before, including at the
2007 World Championships, where the Brit beat him in the quarter-final.
After
going two yuko’s down, Burton took his chance and executed a huge
uchi-mata throw for ippon.
Commenting
on the fight, Burton said, “He is a phenomenal judo player and
we have met each other before at some big tournaments.
“He
beat me at this year’s European Championships and we both ended
up with bronze medals, I think he was one win up on me after this,
so it was nice to get one back on him.”
All
that stood between Burton and his second World bronze medal was
Brazil’s Flavio Canto, a previous World and Olympic medallist.
Just
before the fight, the organisers re-arranged the breathtaking
arena in Yoyogi Park, so that all eyes were on one mat and Burton’s
bronze medal final.
Both
players were evenly matched as Burton pressed for a cross grip.
At just under two minutes, Burton got a good grip over the top
and countered Canto’s attack for yuko.
Burton
managed to keep the pressure off for the remaining time on the
clock, and won the bronze medal.
Immediately
after stepping off the mat, Burton said, “It is a massive relief
to win that fight, the bronze medal fight is always hard because
if you lose you go home with nothing.
“Even
though I have won the bronze medal, I am a little disappointed
as I felt I could have been World Champion today.
“It
is not that often you get to compete in such a competitive tournament,
and it is less often that you can produce a top performance each
time.
“I
felt really good going into the Championships and through my first
few fights felt strong, but it is still fantastic to go home with
a medal.”
The
bronze medal will see Burton gain 200 ranking points to add to
his pre-Worlds no.5 spot. And so will many other winning competitors,
particularly the Japanese, as they are already top of the medal
table.
“The
new rule of two competitors per weight category made a massive
difference today.
“The
-81kg weight category is a densely populated weight category anyway,
so the very best players from each country come through. Then
with two from each country, there was just so much more high quality
players, it made for a really exciting tournament,” Burton added.
“I
had seven matches today, and to be honest, I think this was the
toughest day of judo I have ever had in my life.
“After
beating Travis Stevens, the time I had until my next fight was
literally five minutes, so I had to rush back to the warm-up area
to quickly change from my blue kit to my white kit and walk straight
back to the venue and onto the mat.
“So
I literally had no rest in between, and I think that may have
been the difference between being World Champion and not being
World Champion today, I felt fatigued with the lack of time between
the two fights.
“I
am just pleased I managed to pick myself back up after losing
that quarter final and win my next two fights.”
Commenting
on Burton’s performance, Margaret Hicks, British Judo’s Performance
Director said, “Euan delivered a great performance today and won
six out of his seven fights to take a well deserved bronze medal.”
“At
times he had almost back to back contests in a highly competitive
weight class. He is a great inspiration for the rest of the team.”
The
next day of competition, Saturday 11th September, will see the
-73kg, -63kg and -57kg weight categories compete.
For preliminary round
up of today, please click here.
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