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...
Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher and Emmanuel Nartey both took major steps on the road to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as they won gold at the Casablanca African Open on Sunday. Gary Hall also claimed his second Continental Open medal of the year during an impressive weekend in Morocco. Victory in the -100kg weight division was the perfect way for Fletcher to celebrate his 24th birthday. “It was a good day’s judo – I’m not...
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...
Six of the most talented young judoka in the South West last week spent time with Team Bath's high performance judo squad as part of the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme. The year-long programme, run in conjunction with the British Judo Association (BJA), is designed to provide young athletes aged 16-18 with the opportunity to experience the lifestyle of performance athletes. At the same time they are helped towards earning UCAS-recognised sports qualifications which equate to two...
University of Bath students won a multitude of medals during a fantastic weekend of competition at the BUCS [British Universities & Colleges Sport] Nationals in Sheffield – the UK’s biggest multi-sport event. There were individual golds for Beth Close, Josh Olawore and Cameron Chalmers (athletics); Alex Lane (badminton); Chloe Robyns-Landricombe, Prisca Awiti-Alcarez and Jemima Duxberry (judo); Anna Hopkin and Matthew Johnson (swimming); and Vicky Shenton (trampolining). Holly Clemens, SU Sport Officer, said: “It makes me...
This weekend will see around 100 student athletes from the University of Bath head north to Sheffield to compete in the 2015-16 BUCS Nationals, writes Jamie Betts. Now in its fourth year, the three-day competition will see more than 6,000 students from universities and colleges across Britain compete for honours in ten different sports. This year’s sports are athletics, badminton, boxing, climbing, fencing, judo, karate, rifle shooting, swimming and trampolining, with the University of Bath...
University of Bath judoka Jemima Duxberry made an encouraging return from long-term injury as she won a bronze medal at an international club event in Belgium. The result was all the more impressive as it was also the first time the Sports Performance student had competed in the U78kg weight category. Duxberry, who is supported by the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), had previously fought in the U70kg division before being sidelined for more than...
Following the successful defence of his -90kg title at the British Judo Championships in December, Gary Hall followed up with a bronze medal at the Tunis African Open in Tunisia on Sunday (January 17). The tournament was a ranking event, meaning Hall's medal moved him up the judo world rankings and a step closer to qualification for Rio 2016 this summer. Elsewhere, Team Bath's Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz, who is supported by a King Scholarship, successfully followed up her own British Championships...
Judoka who train at Team Bath won three golds and eight medals in total during an impressive weekend at the British Judo Championships in Sheffield. University of Bath Sport Performance student Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz (pictured second from left), who is supported by a King Scholarship, set the tone on Saturday as she was crowned as national junior champion in the -63kg weight division. The following day’s Senior Championships saw Gary Hall, a bronze-medallist at the Glasgow 2014...
University of Bath graduate Gemma Gibbons became the first British woman ever to medal at the year-ending Tokyo Grand Slam as she won a superb bronze on Sunday. The London 2012 Olympic silver-medallist, who studied Sports Performance, twice produced exciting comeback victories before defeating home favourite Ruika Sato in the -78kg bronze-medal match. “I am really pleased with that result,” said Gibbons. “I have always dreamt of getting a Tokyo Grand Slam medal and today I...
