Performance director Nigel Donohue insists he will be searching high and low for the reasons why Britain failed to win a medal at the World Judo Championships; adamant he’ll find an answer.
Having won two medals at the London 2012 Olympics last summer, Gemma Gibbons’ silver and Karina Bryant’s bronze, Britain left the worlds in the next Games host city of Rio empty handed.
Colin Oates was Britain’s stand-out performer in reaching the -66kg third round after beating Olympic champion from London 2012 Lasha Shavdatuashvili and two-time world champion Rishod Sobirov.
However Gibbons lost in the second round of the -78kg while another fancied Brit Sally Conway didn’t even take to the tatami on medical grounds due to a hip injury.
Ashley McKenzie, who won European -60kg bronze in April, was among the Brits to lose their first fight with performance director Donohue determined to get to the bottom of the failures.
“Colin was the highlight of the team’s performances in beating both the Olympic Champion and a double world champion, a performance that confirms his ability to compete at the top level,” he said.
“Otherwise, we have to be realistic, these are not the standards of performances we are aiming for and we will analyse to understand why the team on the whole underperformed.
“The preparation and performances will be scrutinised when we debrief on September 17 and no stone will be unturned to learn from these championships and move the programme forward.
“We have a clear strategic plan in place for Rio 2016 and beyond, with performance markers we need attain in order to achieve our goals in Rio.
“The ranking of our players is of paramount importance as the lack of seedings has shown yet again with some incredibly tough first-round draws, though ultimately whatever the draw we as a team have to perform, no excuses.”
© Sportsbeat 2013