Giles Finishes 7th at Antalya Grand Slam

It was a 7^th place finish for Chelsie Giles on the opening day of the IJF Antalya Grand Slam in Turkey.

Following an opening round bye, Chelsie Giles safely booked her place in Round 3, defeating Estrella Lopez-Sheriff (ESP). A waza-ari score with 90-seconds remaining was followed with some trademark ne-waza to register an ippon score.

Giles again used her superior strength on the ground to overcome a tricky Round 3 contest against Gultaj Mammadaliyeva (AZE). As the contest neared its 9^th minute, Giles applied an arm lock to force her opponent to tap out.

Giles progressed to the Repechage following a Quarter-Final defeat to 2021 Antalya Grand Slam gold medallist Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB).

Giles faced Larissa Pimenta (BRA) for a place in the bronze medal contest. There was nothing between the two fighters for the majority of the contest, and as the fight neared its 13^th minute, Pimenta caught Giles for a waza-ari score, meaning she finished in 7^th place.

Ashley McKenzie safely progressed to Round 2, defeating Conceicao (BRA) in the opening round. An early waza-ari was followed by some great groundwork that forced his opponent to tap out.

McKenzie again produced some great ne-waza to defeat 6^th seed Issam Bassou (MAR) to progress to Round 3.

Unfortunately, Round 3 was where McKenzie exited the competition as he was caught in the opening exchanges by Savva Karakizidi (GRE) and thrown for ippon score.

Lele Nairne marked her Grand Slam debut with a Round 2 victory against Vera Zemanova (CZE). A waza-ari score in Golden Score enough to see the Bradley Stoke fighter progress to Round 3 where she was unfortunately defeated by 2^nd seed, Telma Monteiro (POR). Monteiro registering two waza-ari scores to book her place in the Quarter-Finals.

Acelya Toprak was defeated by 5^th seed and recent Tel Aviv Grand Slam bronze medallist Timna Nelson-Levy (ISR). Nelson-Levy registered a waza-ari score with 60-seconds remaining, forcing Toprak to attack in the closing stages, where she was countered and thrown for a second waza-ari score.

Making her Grand Slam debut, Chloe Robyns-Landricombe had a tough Round 2 draw, following an opening round bye, against 8^th seed and 4x Grand Slam bronze medallist, Khorloodoi Bishrelt (MGL).

In an even contest, a change of direction by Bishrelt enabled her to register and ippon score.

There were opening round defeats in the -66kg category as Alexander Short and Gregg Varey both exited the competition in the early stages.

Short went a waza-ari score down to World Championship silver medallist Gusman Kyrgyzbayev (KAZ) as the contest passed the midway point, before conceding another in the closing seconds of the contest.

Varey meanwhile was defeated by Sherov (TJK). Sherov registering two waza-ari scores in back-to-back exchanges to progress to Round 2.

Day two sees world number 2 Lucy Renshall compete in the -63kg category. Whilst Kelly Petersen-Pollard and Jemima Yeats-Brown are in action in the -70kg category. For the men, Daniel Powell will compete in the -73kg category whilst Stuart McWatt returns to the IJF World Tour in the -81kg category and will be joined by Louis Delsol who makes his Grand Slam debut.

Preliminary Round action starts at 07:00am with Final Block scheduled to commence at 15:00.

You can watch all the action from the Antalya Grand Slam LIVE on the British Judo homepage.