TeamBath judo players Sian Wilson and Gemma Gibbons just missed out on the medals at the World University Judo Championships in Korea.

The pair of University of Bath Sports Performance students both finished fifth in their respective weight divisions at the championships in Suwon.

Wilson beat Mongolia’s Purev Jarg Lkhamdegd in the quarter-finals of the under-78kg division to set up a contest against Korea’s Gyeong Mi Jung. The Korean won the semi-finals and went on to take the gold medal.

That pitched Wilson into a battle for bronze against China’s Zhehui Zhang. But the Chinese fighter won the contest and Wilson had to settle for fifth – an improvement on her performance two years ago when she came seventh.

Gibbons lost her opening contest to China’s Haixia Wang in the under-70kg class. But she battled back through the repecharge, beating Brazilian Carole Yoshioka and Hungary’s Anita Budai, to set up a bronze medal match against Spain’s Leire Iglesias.

The Spanish fighter won and took bronze and Gibbons finished fifth. With Wang also taking bronze, it means Gibbons lost to both bronze medallists

Fellow University of Bath student and Great Britain judoka Andy Burns finished seventh in the men’s under-100kg category.

The 21-year-old, who is studying for a degree in Coach Education and Sports Development, won his opening contest against China’s Yong Zhou, but then went down to Naidan Tuvshin Bayar of Mongolia, who went on to win bronze.

Burns went into the repecharge, but lost to Italy’s Giovanni Parisi.

Three further TeamBath judoka – Marcus Bascombe, Brett Caswell and Charlotte Farbon - are yet to go into action in Korea. University of Bath students make up six of Great Britain’s nine-strong squad at the World University Championships.

The University of Bath has one of the leading university sports departments in the UK. Under its TeamBath brand, its success is based on the expertise and dedication of staff, and its excellent facilities, used by the community and Olympic medal winners alike.

Report by Matchtight/University of Bath