Halls claim haul as Team Bath judoka gain experience at European Open in Glasgow
Team Bath Judo Club’s Adam Hall claimed his first medal at World Cup level when he won -100kg bronze at the European Open in Glasgow.
Gary Hall matched his achievement in the -90kg category after beating team-mate Sam Potts in the bronze-medal match.
Saturday’s competition saw Adam Hall overcome Norway’s Henrik Reitan in the first round before beating fellow Brit Philip Awiti-Alcaraz to reach the semi-finals.
He was in a winning position against Simeon Catharina of the Netherlands until a late mistake allowed the eventual gold-medallist to progress to the gold-medal match.
Hall bounced back from the disappointment by beating Spain’s Sergio Trillo Valeiro to secure a bronze medal.
Gary Hall’s bid for gold was also ended at the semi-final stage by eventual champion Max Stewart after he had beaten Valentin Jourdan of France in the quarter-finals. That meant Hall went into the bronze-medal match, where he recorded victory by ippon over fellow Team Bath judoka Potts.
Potts – who finished fifth overall – had overcome Finland’s Samuli Viitanen in the first round but was edged out by Canada’s Zachary Burt in the quarter-finals before beating Antoine Lamour of France in the repechage.
Juergen Klinger, High-Performance Coach at the University of Bath, said: “Overall it was a good tournament for us and one the judo players will learn a lot from.
“Both Adam and Sam were well in front in the matches they lost but just switched off for a second. It was just a question of experience and they will know in future to avoid those kinds of mistakes.”
Gregg Varey reached the second round of the -66kg competition after beating Mongolia’s Batzaya Erdenechuluun before losing out to Daniel Cargnin of Brazil.
London 2012 Olympian Emmanuel Nartey also fought in Glasgow, at -81kg level rather than his usual -73kg division, but suffered a first round defeat to Alexander Graves of the United States.
University of Bath Sport Performance student Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz, supported by a King Sports Scholarship, lost to Spain’s Cristina Cabana Perez in her opening -63kg bout.
The Team Bath squad will be back on the international stage on the weekend of October 29-30, competing at the Welsh Open in Cardiff and the Senior European Cup in Malaga, Spain.
