Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher edged out in golden score at Senior World Championships
Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher suffered a golden-score defeat to double Olympian Ramadan Darwish during a hard-fought contest at the 2017 Senior World Championships.
MJ Church ambassador Fletcher, coached by Juergen Klinger at the University of Bath Sports Training Village, went into the event in Budapest on the back of some excellent results and performances during 2017.
He demonstrated that form in the opening round of the men’s -100kg competition, a tactical battle against Brazil’s Luciano Correa that went into golden score before Fletcher threw his opponent for waza-ari.
That set up a showdown with experienced Egyptian Darwish, a former World bronze-medallist, and it once again proved to be a highly physical but well-matched contest that went to golden score.
Fletcher went on the attack from the first exchange but Darwish countered with waza-ari to edge the win.
Sunday saw Fletcher return to the mat as part of the first-ever GB Judo squad to contest a Mixed Team event at a Senior World Championships.
After receiving a bye into the second round, GB took on Korea but found themselves trailing to an unassailable 4-1 lead by the time Fletcher came to the mat for the final contest. He ensured the British challenge ended on a high note by holding down Jonghoon Won for ippon.
Click here for more information about the judo programme at the University of Bath.
