British Judo Association

After a positive end to the circuit last year, when Euan Burton took gold at the Tokyo Grand Slam and Ashley McKenzie and Karina Bryant were both placed 5th just outside the medals, it proved to be a tentative start for Britain’s fighters at their first Grand Slam of 2010.

Britain returned from Paris with two 5th places, the first was from Matt Purssey who stepped up a gear in his new -90kg weight category to contend for a semi final place.

Purssey’s first fight was a tactical battle against Korea’s Young-Woo Kwon. Purssey pressured his opponent and stayed ahead on the penalties, resulting in the Korean’s eventual disqualification.

Purssey won his second round fight against Marvin De La Croes of the Netherlands, with two sumi-gaeshi throws; the second dispatching his opponent for ippon, placing him in the last eight. Fighting for the semi final place against Dilshod Choriev (UZB), Purssey was outgripped by his stronger opponent and thrown for ippon, resulting in a well deserved 5th place in the tournament.

The second 5th place went to 2009 World silver medallist Karina Bryant in the +78kg competition. With a limited entry in this weight category, Bryant fought only one fight to be placed 5th. She was thrown by Nihel Chikhrouhou of Tunisia with makikomi.

Euan Burton had a bye first round and then his Portuguese opponent Lima, did not show resulting in a third round contest with Sergui Toma (MDA). This was a challenging and close fight, which was ultimately decided in golden score when Burton was countered for yuko.

Ashley McKenzie (-60kg) suffered a tough draw after a bye in the first round to face World Masters champion and Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Rishod Sobritov, who is ranked third in the World. McKenzie put in some good attacks, but was not able to convert them into scores and lost the fight being thrown twice for yukos and a penalty shido.

Also in the -60kg category, James Millar took control of the fight against Japan’s Daisuke Asano and gained a fast submission from an armlock having switched from a hold down. In his second fight against Dimitri Dragin of France, after an exchange of attacks, Millar lost by two yuko points to his one.

Colin Oates fought Diago Cesar (POR) in the opening fight of the -66kg tournament. After nearly finishing his opponent on the ground, the fight went to golden score and Oates progressed to the second round after the win. Oates then lost to Miaragchaa Sanjaasuren (MGL) in his second fight with an early ippon score, being caught with a counter kosoto-gake.

Sarah Clark met Karen Shammas (LIB) in her first fight, having moved back to her old weight of -63kgs. She quickly dispatched her opponent and moved into the second round. Clark picked up penalties in her second fight against Ja-Young Kong, the last one resulting in Hansoku Maki for appearing to grab the leg, falling foul of one of the IJF’s new rule changes.

Sally Conway’s bid to better her 5th place at last year’s Paris Grand Slam was cut short when Marie Pasquet of France took her out in the preliminaries in the -70 kilos division.

Commenting on the performances, Margaret Hicks, Performance Director, said, “From Paris we recognise we still have a lot more work to do with the players, to make the necessary improvements for medals at this level. What is important now is the players benefit from the high quality randori they will get in this week’s Paris Training Camp and for our coaches to work with them so they learn from this event.

“It is also important to note that this competition is one part of the programme leading to the Europeans and ultimately the Worlds, which is our main target for this year.”

Matt Purssey at the 2007 GB World Cup