5th for Renshall at Baku Grand Slam

On day two of the Baku Grand Slam, Lucy Renshall made another Grand Slam medal contest.

World number one Renshall (SKK: Pete Blood) had an opening-round bye before defeating Hannah Martin (USA) to progress to the quarter-finals. An osaekomi hold down in the closing stages of the contest was enough to see her through.

The quarter-final contest against Iva Oberan (CRO) was a cagey affair with both judoka picking up shidos. With the contest seemingly heading towards Golden Score, Renshall produced a throw for waza-ari score as the clock struck 4-minutes to progress to the semi-finals.

In the semi-final contest, Renshall attempted to throw her opponent, Geke Van Den Berg (NED). However, an unfortunately timed loss of grip, mid-technique, resulted in what was adjudged by the officials to be a head dive. Renshall was therefore awarded a hansoku make (disqualification) which saw her opponent progress to the final and Renshall to the bronze medal contest to face 2021 World Championship silver medallist, Andreja Leski (SLO).

Renshall dominated much of the contest but could not find a winning score. As the contest entered Golden Score, an error by the Brit saw her opponent capitalise and register a winning score. The result saw Renshall finish 5^th.

Tomorrow is the final day of the Baku Grand Slam with Natalie Powell (Irfon JC; Mark Earl) and Emma Reid (Redbridge JC; Steve Sandy) in action in the -78kg category.

Preliminary Round action starts at 07:00am (GMT) with Final Block scheduled to commence at 13:00.

You can watch all the action from the Baku Grand Slam LIVE at live.ijf.org.

Watch out for further news from British Judo by checking out our latest news section. You can also catch up via our official social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.