Giles finishes 5th on opening day of World Judo Masters

On the opening day of the IJF World Judo Masters in Budapest, Chelsie Giles (Coventry JC; Simon Moss) registered a 5^th place finish to claim more valuable Olympic qualification points on the road to Paris.

Giles has been in fine form in 2023 having won gold at the Portugal Grand Prix and Tel Aviv Grand Slam whilst she has also claimed silver at the Antalya Grand Slam.

Giles enters as 2^nd seed and overcame a tricky opening round contest against multiple IJF World Tour medallist Khorloodoi Bishrelt (UAE). A waza-ari score in the final minute of the contest was enough to see Giles progress to the quarter-finals.

Giles overcame Gefen Primo (ISR) in the opening exchange of Golden Score, following a great change of direction to register a waza-ari score to win her Pool and progress to the Semi-Finals.

Giles faced a familiar opponent in Amandine Buchard (FRA) for a place in the final.

Buchard registered a waza-ari score as the contest neared the midway point before countering a Giles attack to register a second waza-ari. The defeat saw Giles progress to the bronze medal contest to face current World Championship silver medallist Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB).

Keldiyorova exploded out of the blocks and produced a scare in the opening exchange. She then followed this up with a seoi otoshi throw for ippon score. The defeat saw Giles finish in 5^th place.

In the -57kg category Lele Nairne (Bradley Stoke; Pete Douglas) and Nekoda Smythe-Davis (Ealing JC; Jo Crowley) both bowed out of the competition in the second round.

Nairne overcame her opening-round opponent, Shukurjon Aminova (UZB), in under 60-seconds, courtesy of two waza-ari scores but was defeated by former World Champion Jessica Klimkait (CAN) in round two, a waza-ari score was followed up by an osaekomi hold down for a second waza-ari in the closing stages of the contest.

Meanwhile, returning to the World Judo Masters stage for the first time since 2018, Smythe-Davis had an opening-round contest against Seija Ballhaus (GER).

Both judoka picked up early shidos before Smythe-Davis was awarded a second at the midway point in the contest. With no score on the board, the contest entered Golden Score. As the contest neared the 8-minute mark, a change of direction by Smythe-Davis resulted in a waza-ari score, securing her place in round 2 to face 2x World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist Daria Bilodid (UKR).

Bilodid registered a throw for ippon score as the contest past the opening 60-seconds.

Also competing in the -57kg category was Acelya Toprak (Metro JC/ Relentless Judo; Darren Hawney/ Fitzroy Davies) who faced 3^rd seed and World Championship silver medallist Haruka Funakubo (JPN) in the opening round. Toprak matched her opponent until the final minute when Funakubo capitalised on Toprak going to ground and applied an arm lock in newaza to pin the Brit for ippon score.

Day two will see three GB judoka in action with action getting underway at 9:00am (BST) tomorrow.

You can watch all the action from the World Judo Masters LIVE at live.ijf.org 

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