Fletcher and Conway both gain points at Croatian Grand Prix on their road to Rio

Under 70kg Commonwealth Games medallists Sally Conway (Scotland) and Megan Fletcher (England) regrouped as Great Britain team mates at the Croatian Grand Prix in Zagreb on 13 September and both won points to take them on the road to Rio.

Fighting in the same category, Conway took the bronze medal/fifth place and scooped (120 or 60) points, while while Megan Fletcher finished a solid seventh place and gained 48 points.

The pair almost came face to face in the bronze medal match, however, when Megan Fletcher lost out to Barbara Matic she also lost the chance to ftight Conway but Fletcher went on to secure a solid seventh place finish.

It was a different story at the Commonwealth Games where both medalled but Megan stood on the top podium for England and Sally secured the bronze for Scotland.

Fletcher first beat Anka Pogancnik of Slovenia on shidos to progress to the second round against Iljana Marzok of Germany which she also won by the same measure. However, Fletcher then lost out by a single shido to Barbara Matic of Croatia and then was finally beaten in the repechage by Maria Portela of Brazil for ippon- a match that had she have won, would have seen her come face to face with Conway again.
Conway won her first match against Valeria Ferrari of Italy by ippon after having led with a yuko. She continued in fine form to win by waza-ari against Alena Eiglova of Czech Republic.

However, Conway lost her semi final against Katarzyna Klys of Poland and went on to fight Maria Portela of Brazil for bronze.

Words by Donna Richardson.