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Britain won two bronzes
at the Junior European Championships, which took place in Prague
from the 5-7 October.
Ashley McKenzie won bronze
in the –60kg weight category winning his first fights against
Aliaksandr Biahasau of Belarus and Spain’s Daniel Pions with ease.
In the quarter final, in a fight that could have gone either way,
Russian Arsen Galstyan beat Mckenzie in golden score after a shido
was given.
McKenzie, who has only
been competing in the –60kg weight category for the last year,
showed maturity in the repechage beating Fabio Andreoli of Italy
and Fatih Terim of Turkey. In the bronze medal match he beat Robert
Kopisk of Germany, an achievement since at their previous meeting,
at the 2005 Youth Olympic festival, the German defeated the Brit.
Ashley Fleming, who looked
positive all day in a strong weight category, won Britain’s second
medal in the +78kg weight category. She beat Gergana Petrova of
Bulgaria, and Lucia Tangorre of Italy to win her pool, but in
the semi-final was held down by Svitlana Iaromka of the Ukraine,
who went on to win gold. This left her in the fight for the bronze
medal, where after regaining her strong form, overcome Alina Lotorosanu
of Romania to take her spot on the rostrum.
The bronze was a personal
best for Ashley Fleming, who at just 16 years old has three years
left at this level.
In the –78kg weight category
Rebecca Telfer finished 5 th . The 16-year-old won her pool but
beat by Hanna Radzevich of Bulgaria and
Elena Grabove of Russia in the bronze medal match.
Lead World Class Development
Coach and Head of Delegation, Kate Howey, praised the team’s overall
performance saying, “They performed well and looked positive all
day. Overall, this is an improvement on last year. We can really
see year on year progression with both the performances given
by the team as well as the final result of two bronzes and a 5
th place finish”.
Media Contact:
Emma Griffin
Communications Director
(t) 01509 631692/07875
368495
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