Conway bags judo gold in Dusseldorf Grand Slam

Sally Conway claimed Great Britain's first gold at judo's Dusseldorf Grand Slam as she recorded a quick-fire submission of Miriam Butkereit to take the -70kg title.

The Rio bronze medallist was unstoppable in her discipline as she raced through the competition before putting the finishing touches to victory in inspired style.

The 32-year-old beat Gabriella Willems with a waza-ari to kick off the day before an ippon victory over China’s Anqi Sun.

That result set up a quarter-final contest against old adversary Maria Bernabeu, and Conway enacted revenge after having suffered two defeats to the Spaniard when she pinned her opponent to the mat inside 30 seconds.

Conway’s semi-final was a longer affair but saw the same result as she forced Ellen Santana into submission.

And she came up against another former foe in the shape of Butkereit in the final, the German having got the better of their previous fight at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in 2018.

Conway was not phased in the slightest by the history, however, as she wasted no time in working her opponent to the mat and securing an arm lock to force submission once more.

“After going out first fight in Paris a few weeks ago, I am really happy to have won today here in Germany," said Conway.

“I took each fight one by one and focused on delivering the judo I’m capable of in each exchange.”

Conway wasn’t the only one to taste success in Germany, however, with youngster Lulu Piovesana notching some significant wins on her way to fifth-place in the -63kg.

She beat Olympic champion Tina Trstenjak in spectacular fashion on the way to the bronze-medal match where she eventually fell afoul of Slovenia’s Andreja Leski. Sportsbeat 2019