Six medals for GB Judo on the opening day of the European Junior Cup in Birmingham

On the opening day of the 2024 European Junior Cup in Birmingham, GB Judo won 6 medals to improve on their total of 4 medals from 2023, with a day of action to come with some strong GB medal hopes.

GB Judo dominated the -73kg, which had over 30 entrants, winning three of the four medals on offer. Luke Davies entered as the number one seed and, after winning his group, defeated his teammate Ben Levy in the semi-final.

On the other side of the draw, Irakli Goginashvili secured his place in the final with a Golden Score semi-final win over Morgan Errboe (DEN).

In what was the highly-anticipated final of the day, Davies overcame his teammate in the final seconds, registering a throw for waza-ari before pinning for the ippon score.

In the bronze medal contest, Levy had to wait until the final seconds of the contest to win the bronze against Kylian Nze-Bekale (FRA). Levy pinned his opponent as the contest clock ticked down to record the only score of the contest.

Lewis Fryer won his second silver medal at the European Junior Cup in Birmingham after taking -60kg silver in 2023.

Fighting in the -66kg category this year, Fryer secured his place in the final by defeating number one seed Kamil Michna (POL) in the semi-final.

In the final, Fryer went one score ahead of Georgios Kalaitsidis (CYP), but when the score was tied, the momentum shifted to the Cypriot judoka, who went on to win the gold medal in the next exchange. The silver medal is Fryer’s first on the European circuit since moving up to the -66 kg category.

In the -70 kg category, Holly Devall won her second European Junior Cup medal of the year, winning bronze. Devall has been in good form this year, with two fifth place finishes ahead of a gold medal at the European Junior Cup in Kaunas.

There was an All GB bronze medal final in the -78kg ca Harriet McRae experienced Cordelia Quinlan. As the contest reached the halfway point, McRae dropped Quinlan for an ippon score to secure the bronze medal, her first on the European circuit. Defeat meant Quinlan had to settle for 5^th.

Elsewhere, there were also 5^th place finishes for Katie Mills (-63 kg), Nicole Wood (-78kg) and Abigail Guest (+78kg) while Owen Lambert (-73 kg), Phoebe Digweed (-63 kg), Anika Rabi (-70 kg).

During the opening ceremony, British Judo President, Rowena Birch 7th Dan was introduced, having been involved in the sport for nearly 40 years as a competitor, coach, board member and now president.

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