On day four of the 2010 World Championships, held in Tokyo, the -48kg, -52kg, -60kg and -66kg players were in action.

In the -48kg weight category, Great Britain’s Kelly Edwards, who at just 19 years-of-age is still classed as a junior, made her debut on the World stage.

Edwards received a bye in the first round and opened her campaign against Margarita Filippova of Turkmenistan, who she beat by a yuko point when the clock ran out.

Progressing to the third round, Edwards faced Leandra Freitas of Portugal, a previous junior European Champion.

After the full five minutes passed and neither player managed to score, the fight went to golden score, where Edwards was thrown for yuko.

In the same weight category, Kimberley Renicks had a bye in the first round and fought Elena Moretti of Italy in the second.

The Brit was unable to score and Moretti’s three yuko points and a waza-ari earned her a win.

In the -52kg weight category, British Olympian Sophie Cox made her return to the World stage after a five-year break from competition.

In the first round, Coz beat Atefa Hussaini (AFG) after scoring a yuko early on in the fight and finished with an ippon score.

Cox then fought Meriem Moussa of Algeria in the second round. The fight went to full time and the Brit lost by a waza-ari.

In the men’s -60kg competition, Ashley McKenzie made an impressive start, winning his first fight against Anatolii Laskuta of Ukraine by ippon.

The second round saw McKenzie fight Hungary’s no.1 Laszlo Burjan. After the full five minutes, the Brit had no score to the Hungarian’s waza-ari and lost the fight.

Elswhere in the -60kg weight category, James Millar’s first contest saw a close match against Pavel Petrikov of Czech Republic.

Petrikov kept the pressure of after scoring a waza-ari and won the fight by ippon.

Britain’s only -66kg contender, Colin Oates, suffered a tough draw and lost to the World ranked no.2, Alim Gadano of Russia.

The impressive Russian won a World bronze medal in 2008 and came 5th in the 2009 World Championships, more recently he won a bronze medal at the 2010 Moscow Grand Slam, and won a gold medal at the 2010 Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam.

Competing tomorrow, Monday 13th September, Karina Bryant and Sarah Adlington will contest the open weight category.