Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher has hailed his silver medal at the Dusseldorf Grand Slam in Germany as “probably the best result of my career”. The Rio 2016 Olympian and MJ Church ambassador was only denied the -100kg gold by Georgia’s Varlam Liparteliani, an Olympic and World silver-medallist who is currently ranked number one in the world. Fletcher had to battle through four rounds to reach the final, recording impressive victories over Temur Rakhimov of...
Student-athletes at the University of Bath won 28 medals across five different sports during a successful visit to Sheffield for the 2018 BUCS Nationals. Among the eight gold medals was a thrilling 200m title on the athletics track for Beth Close (pictured) after a storming finish. She then anchored the women’s 4x200m relay team to another tremendous victory as they retained the title for Bath. MJ Church ambassador Anna Hopkin’s 50m freestyle gold was one...
Team Bath Judo’s Ben Fletcher won the first Grand Prix gold of his career when he triumphed in Tunisia on Sunday. The MJ Church ambassador, coached by Juergen Klinger at the University of Bath Sports Training Village dojo, beat Russia’s Ramazan Malsuigenov by a waza-ari in a hard-fought final of the -100kg weight category. Rio 2016 Olympian Fletcher had earlier overcome Russia’s Askhab Kostoev, Milan Randl of Slovakia and Algeria’s Lyes Bouyacoub on his way...
Team Bath judoka won three gold, two silver and five bronze medals during a successful weekend on both the national and international stage. Rio 2016 Olympian Ben Fletcher marked his first appearance since switching his nationality to Ireland in style as he took the men’s -100kg title at the Hong Kong Asian Open. The MJ Church ambassador was in fantastic form as he beat South Korea’s Kim Nohyeon and Kim Min Sung in the quarter-final...
The University of Bath hosted an up-and-coming wave of young, talented judo players from around the South West this week ahead of a big few days of international competition for the current high-performance squad. Teenagers on the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme took part in training sessions guided by Team Bath Head Coach Juergen Klinger and world-class judoka including Olympian Ben Fletcher and Commonwealth Champion Megan Fletcher, providing a fresh and challenging take on judo...
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...
Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher is aiming to finish his “best season so far” on a high note when he represents Great Britain at the World Senior Championships in Budapest, Hungary this weekend. The Rio 2016 Olympian, an ambassador for Team Bath partners MJ Church, goes into the -100kg competition with a career-high world ranking of 18 after winning three international medals during 2017. His silver at the Cancun Grand Prix in Mexico was Fletcher’s...
Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher continued his preparations for next month’s World Championships by winning a bronze medal at the European Open in Minsk, Belarus. It was a third podium finish of 2017 for the MJ Church ambassador, following up on his bronze at the Rome European Open and silver at last month’s Cancun Grand Prix in Mexico. Fletcher, coached by Juergen Klinger at the University of Bath Sports Training Village, overcame Sweden’s Emil Mattsson,...
Six athletes who receive Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) support at the University of Bath have been shortlisted in the first-ever TASS Stars Awards for their performances during the past year. Shooter Kristian Callaghan, who graduated earlier this month with a Masters in Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, is in contention for the Most Inspirational prize. Judoka Rhys Thompson is shortlisted for Most Enterprising athlete, while two of the three contenders for Most Dedicated are...
Team Bath Judo’s Ben Fletcher has had his place confirmed in the British Judo squad for the 2017 World Championships, taking place in Budapest, Hungary. Fletcher, coached by Juergen Klinger in the University of Bath Sports Training Village dojo, will compete in the men’s -100kg weight division after setting the qualifying standard by winning silver at the Cancun Grand Prix in Mexico last month. That medal success, his best-ever Grand Prix performance, moved the Rio...
