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 judoka Ben Fletcher recorded a second-successive seventh-placed finish when he competed at the Samsun Grand Prix in Turkey. The result gave the 24-year-old another 48 valuable points in his pursuit of Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification, with just a handful of competitions remaining before the May 31 deadline. Fletcher, coached by Juergen Klinger at the University of Bath, saw his superior fitness come to the fore in his opening -100kg contest in Samsun as...
University of Bath student Gemma Howell won her first Grand Prix judo medal for two years after producing a string of excellent performances in Georgia. The Sport & Exercise Science student, competing in the -63kg weight division, beat judoka ranked 30, 20, eight and nine in the world on her way to a superb silver in the Tbilisi Grand Prix. “I’m really happy, this silver is the best senior medal I’ve won so far,” Howell...
Team Bath judoka Jan Gosiewski and Gary Hall (pictured left) gained valuable Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification points with fifth-placed finishes at last weekend’s Prague European Open. University of Bath PhD student Gosiewski’s strong run in the -73kg competition was only ended in the quarter-finals by a golden-score ippon from reigning Olympic champion Mansur Isaev of Russia. Gosiewski, who had beaten former European Championship medallist Hasan Vanlioglu of Turkey in the opening rounds, dropped into the...
The road to Rio will travel through the Czech Republic, Peru, Argentina, Georgia and Turkey for University of Bath judoka Jan Gosiewski over the next few weeks. So ahead of his final push for a dream Olympic place in Team GB, the 27-year-old has launched a crowd-funding campaign to help cover the costs of his extensive travels. The global nature of judo means that Gosiewski has to go around the world to take part in...
Team Bath Judo Club’s Megan Fletcher collected more valuable Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification points as she finished seventh at the Qingdao Grand Prix in China. After her gold-medal success in Australia the previous week, Fletcher got off to a confident start in the U70kg weight division as she beat Georgia’s Esther Stam by yuko. However, a single penalty against Fletcher proved decisive in a tight quarter-final as she was edged out by South Korea’s...
Megan Fletcher struck gold and there was a bronze medal for Jan Gosiewski as Team Bath judoka enjoyed success at the Oceania Open in Woolongong, Australia. Commonwealth champion Fletcher won all of her fights by ippon to claim the women’s under-70kg title and 100 valuable ranking points on the road to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. After defeating home favourite Naomi De Bruine in the preliminary round, Fletcher beat Lynn Mossong of Luxembourg in the...
Team Bath Judo Club’s Ben Fletcher gained more valuable qualification points on the road to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as he struck gold at the African Open Championships in Mauritius. The 23-year-old, coached by Juergen Klinger at the University of Bath, dominated all of his fights in the under-100kg weight division to claim the third international title of his career and his second in 2015, following his success in Tunis in January. After overcoming...
There were two silvers and a bronze medal for Team Bath’s elite judoka to celebrate when the European Open took place in Scotland and Portugal at the weekend. Tom Reed reached the under-81kg final at the men’s event in Glasgow, while Ben Fletcher strengthened his grip on a Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification place with bronze in the under-100kg division. And over at the women’s event in Lisbon, Megan Fletcher won a silver medal in...
It is exactly 300 days until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games get under way – and Team Bath’s elite judoka face a crucial competition as they bid to reach Brazil. Valuable qualification points for the Games are up for grabs at the European Judo Open, which takes place this weekend in Glasgow for men and Lisbon for women. Among those heading to Scotland is Ben Fletcher, pictured, who currently meets the qualification criteria for Rio...
