Incredible ippons help Team Bath Judo captain Gregg Varey reach quarter-finals on Grand Slam debut in Turkey
Team Bath Judo’s Gregg Varey enjoyed an excellent Grand Slam debut for Great Britain as he finished seventh overall in Antalya, Turkey.
It may have been his first competitive outing for 15 months but Varey was soon into his stride in the -66kg category, defeating home judoka Talha Buyukeser in the opening round before scoring an ippon to beat five-times African Championship medallist Imad Bassou of Morocco.
The Team Bath High Performance Judo Squad captain then recorded another brilliant ippon to beat Canada’s Julien Frascadore and set up a quarter-final contest against double World Champion Hifumi Abe.
Another incredible Ippon from @gvarey – he’s absolutely charging through the competition!
Tune in at https://t.co/Gupw19ZNvy#JudoAntalya #Judo #Antalya #Turkey #Sport #Olympics
©️ IJF Media Team – Robin Willingham pic.twitter.com/eAFKGDYUUD
— Judo (@Judo) April 1, 2021
The Japanese judoka came out on top thanks to an ippon in the opening stages and Varey was withdrawn from the repechage as a precaution following a heavy landing but he had still done enough to earn a top-seven finish.
Fellow Team Bath judoka Megan Fletcher was also in action in Antalya and beat Brunei’s Asma Alrebai in the opening round of her -70kg competition before being edged out by eventual semi-finalist Xiaoqian Sun after a hard-fought eight-minute contest.
Fletcher, who represents Ireland, will be seeking more important Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification points when she competes at the European Senior Championships in Lisbon, Portugal from April 16-18.
Click here to find out more about judo at Team Bath.
