A determined display from Team Bath's Ben Fletcher wasn't enough to avoid defeat as the Team GB judoka was knocked out of the Rio Olympic Games in the round of 32. In a fight watched by team-mates, coaches and youngsters back at the University of Bath dojo ahead of a have-a-go judo session, Fletcher lost by ippon to reigning -90kg World Junior Champion Beka Gviniashvili. In the opening minutes of the contest Fletcher, making his Olympic debut, held off the...
Team GB judoka Ben Fletcher is in the best shape of his career, physically and mentally, as he prepares to make his Olympic debut at Rio 2016. That is the view of Juergen Klinger, his long-term coach at the University of Bath Sports Training Village dojo, who believes that Fletcher can prove “a very dangerous opponent” to the more established judoka in the men’s -100kg competition on Thursday. Fletcher has been handed a tough draw...
University of Bath students Jemima Duxberry and Chloe Robyns-Landricombe have thanked the Team Bath Dual Career programme for helping them compete at the 2016 European University Games. Along with fellow students Renz Vallejera and Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz, they gained more international judo experience as they represented Great Britain at the multi-sport event in Croatia. Robyns-Landricombe, who is studying Sport Performance and finished seventh in the -57kg weight category, said: “I had an amazing opportunity to train...
Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher narrowly missed out on a medal in his final competition before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Competing at the Tyumen Grand Slam in Russia on Sunday, Fletcher – coached by Juergen Klinger at the Sports Training Village – was edged out by home judoka Niiaz Bilalov in his -100kg bronze-medal bout, meaning he finished fifth overall. Fletcher had started the day with a quarter-final victory over Moldova’s Denis Tachii before...
Nearly 2,000 people of all ages got into the Rio spirit on Saturday when they enjoyed a wide range of sports and activities during an Olympic-themed Family Fun Day at the University of Bath Sports Training Village. Free have-a-go sessions in athletics, badminton, fencing, martial arts, tennis and trampolining proved to be massively popular, as did the chance to experience life as a performance athlete through health and speed testing. Children collected stars as they...
With 50 days to go until Rio 2016, Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher today became the ninth University of Bath-based athlete to be officially selected by Team GB for this summer’s Olympic Games. The 24-year-old, who is coached by Juergen Klinger at the Sports Training Village, will compete in the men’s -100kg weight category after being one of seven Brits to successfully qualify for the Games. After a gruelling two-year qualification period that took him...
Team Bath Judo’s Ben Fletcher will find out for certain in the next two weeks whether he has qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Fletcher wasn’t able to reproduce the form he had shown while finishing a career-high seventh in Azerbaijan the previous week as he was beaten by home judoka Viktor Demyanenko in the first round of the men’s -100kg competition at the Almaty Grand Prix in Kazakhstan. But despite the setback, Fletcher...
Team Bath Judo’s Ben Fletcher produced his best-ever Grand Prix result in Azerbaijan on Sunday to maintain his push for a Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification place. World number ten Jose Armenteros was among the judoka Fletcher overcame on his way to a seventh-placed finish in the men’s -100kg weight category in Baku. Hungary’s Miklos Cirjenics was runner-up, moving him into the automatic qualification places for Rio, but Fletcher still holds one of two continental...
Strength & conditioning coach Luke Vella set an unofficial new world weightlifting record in front of a big crowd at the University of Bath Sports Training Village on Wednesday. In the process he has raised thousands of pounds for Bristol Children’s Hospital, who saved the life of his friend and fellow Team Bath coach Bob Smith’s baby daughter. More than 300 people – including the judo, rugby and tennis players that Vella trains at the...
Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher is back in the automatic qualification places for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after producing his best result at a senior major championships to date. The 24-year-old’s seventh-placed finish at the European Judo Championships in Kazan, Russia on Saturday lifted him back up to 29th in the Olympic qualification rankings for the -100kg weight category. With just one month of the two-year qualification period remaining and no more major tournaments...
