Lucy Renshall bounced back from illness to double Great Britain’s medal haul at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam as the judoka took -63kg silver.
Nekoda Davis took GB Judo’s first medal on Thursday, winning -57kg bronze, and the ranking points earned by Renshall for reaching the final could push her into the world top ten.
The St Helens athlete faced former European champion Edwige Gwend in the final and the contest was forced to a golden score when both contenders had only scored a shido, awarded for minor rule infringements, in regular time.
It was Renshall’s fourth golden score contest of the day and this time it did not go her way, as she picked up a second shido for false attack after two minutes, losing the final.
But after suffering an illness the week before and having picked up 700 world ranking points along with her silver, the 21-year-old admits it was a good day overall.
“My first two fights were not good and I didn’t feel comfortable but the semi-final and final I lifted my game and I was pleased with those two fights,” she said.
"I was ill last week, so coming away with my first grand slam medal is good and hopefully the points earned here will get me to the World Masters in St Petersburg at the end of the year."
Amy Livesey was also in action in the -63kg category, though she was unable to overcome Israel’s Rotem Shor and was knocked out with three shidos.
It was Gemma Howell’s first Grand Slam as a British -70kg representative and she did well to keep former world junior champion Szabina Gercsak under control, but the Hungarian won in golden score.
Picture: Sabau Gabriela, IJF
Sportsbeat 2017