Conway Claims Baku Grand Slam Bronze

Sally Conway firmly last week’s European Championship disappointment behind her with a bronze medal, whilst Tom Davis claimed fifth place in day two of the Baku Grand Slam, Azerbaijan.

The IJF World Tour event is one of the top ranking events of the year and the final event where athletes can secure a place at the ‘top 16 only’ IJF Masters event in Tyumen at the end of the month.

Edinburgh-based Conway, 26, was going into the event following an early exit at last week’s European Championships where hopes were high after her Samsun Grand Prix victory.

Conway started in fine form and as in Turkey a few weeks prior, she again looked strong on the ground, forcing a submission from Kristina Marijanovic of Croatia in just over three minutes.

This set up a pool final against German athlete Laura Vargas Koch, who was full of confidence after a bronze medal at the Europeans. It was a tight contest and the scores were level throughout. Conway was a shido behind which would have meant a defeat under new rules, so she had to push for a score and was caught and thrown for ippon with six seconds of the contest remaining.

The bronze medal contest was against more German opposition in the form of Barbara Bandel. Conway went a yuko up midway through the contest with a second yuko shortly after. With 30 seconds remaining Conway executed a huge throw taking victory by ippon.

Following the bronze medal match, Sally Conway said: “I’m happy with my performance overall. There are bits to work on and areas where I can sharpen up ready for the masters.”

London’s Tom Davis also had a strong day. The -81kg fighter started with a win over Duman Aldayev of Kazakhstan by ippon. He followed this up with a comprehensive victory by two yukos over former European bronze medallist Alijaz Sedej.

The pool final saw a narrow defeat to home athlete Rustam Alimli by a single shido, before bouncing back in the repechage with an ippon victory over last weekend’s European silver medal winner Tomislav Marijanovic, despite picking up an injury in the previous contest.

However, Davis was unable to carry the momentum into the bronze medal fight, losing by waza-ari to Alan Khubetsov of Russia to take fifth place.

Following the event, British Judo Coach Kate Howey said: “This was a good day for Sally to restore some confidence in herself following the Europeans.

“The result means she has qualified for the (IJF) Masters and goes into it with some strong wins under her belt.

“Tom also fought very well, beating the European silver medallist and fighting the last two contests with an injury. Fifth place here for Tom is an excellent result.”

Image – IJF.org