Top-five finishes and valuable Rio 2016 points for Team Bath judo duo at European Open
Team Bath judoka Jan Gosiewski and Gary Hall (pictured left) gained valuable Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification points with fifth-placed finishes at last weekend’s Prague European Open.
University of Bath PhD student Gosiewski’s strong run in the -73kg competition was only ended in the quarter-finals by a golden-score ippon from reigning Olympic champion Mansur Isaev of Russia.
Gosiewski, who had beaten former European Championship medallist Hasan Vanlioglu of Turkey in the opening rounds, dropped into the repechage and defeated Spain’s Javier Ramirez to set up a bronze-medal contest against Saian Ondar of Russia.
A close-fought match saw Gosiewski – supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship and the University’s Dual Career programme – lose out on a single shido after having a yuko wiped off by the officials.
Hall – who, like Gosiewski, is coached by Juergen Klinger in the Sports Training Village dojo – also produced a series of impressive performances in the -90kg weight category.
Victory over Tajikistan’s Komronshokh Ustopiriyon – a top-five finisher at last year’s World Championships – set up a quarter-final against Vadym Synyavsky of Ukraine.
A narrow defeat sent Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Hall into the repechage, where he overcame Italy’s Giovanni Carollo.
Hall then led the bronze-medal contest against Patryk Ciechomski before his Polish opponent hit back.
The next chance to gain Rio qualification points is at the Pan American Open in Lima, Peru this weekend.
