Colin Oates claimed the scalp of the reigning Olympic gold medallist and a double world champion but agonisingly missed out on a global podium finish in Rio.
After Ashley McKenzie’s first-round loss in the -60kg category, it was the turn of Oates to boost the British charge on day two of the World Judo Championships.
And he couldn’t have asked for a better start in the -66kg category as he defeated Uzbekistan’s Rishod Sobirov, the world champion from 2010 and 2011.
Oates beat the Olympic bronze medallist from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 by yuko during golden score and took confidence from it into the second round.
He came from a yuko down to throw the Olympic champion from London 2012 Lasha Shavdatuashvili of Georgia for a match ending ippon in the third minute.
However that was as good as it got for the 30-year-old, who finished seventh at London 2012, as he met his match in Azamat Mukanov in the final 16.
The Kazakhstan fighter threw Oates for ippon himself before going on to reach the final where he would have to settle for silver behind Masashi Ebinuma.
© Sportsbeat 2013