Ludford and Petgrave Claim Bronze in Sarajevo

Shelley Ludford and Jamal Petgrave were GB’s standout performers at the Sarajevo European Open this weekend, securing bronze medals in the -78kg and -90kg categories respectively, both taking their first podium finishes of the year.

Shelley Ludford’s weekend began with a quarterfinal bout against Slovenia’s Anka Pogacnik. Despite her efforts, Ludford came up short, with Pogacnik securing the win and sending Ludford into the repechage rounds. Due to the structure of the tournament and the number of athletes in her division, Ludford advanced directly to the bronze medal contest.

In the bronze medal match, Ludford was quick to take control, registering ippon just forty seconds into the contest to secure her place on the podium. Her efficient finish capped off a steady weekend for Ludford and a first medal win following a series of injuries that have kept her off the mat for some time, adding another medal to her collection.

Jamal Petgrave’s journey to Bronze began with a decisive Round of 16 victory against Romania’s David Gliga. Petgrave scored a waza-ari, later sealing the win with a waza-ari-awasete-ippon to advance to the quarterfinals against his fellow British teammate, Max Gregory.

In a hard-fought, tense quarterfinal that saw the the pair battling it out fiercely for nearly six additional minutes of Golden Score before Petgrave secured the win, booking his place in the semi-final against Serbia’s Bosko Borenovic.

The semi-final proved challenging, with Petgrave narrowly missing the final after Borenovic claimed victory through via a single Waza-ari after hooking the Brit’s leg. This dropped Petgrave into the bronze medal contest against Austria’s Thomas Scharfetter.

In a nail-biting clash, Scharfetter struck first with a waza-ari, but with only 25 seconds remaining, Petgrave dramatically responded with a score of his own, taking the match into Golden Score. Petgrave emerged victorious, securing a waza-ari-awasete-ippon to bring home the bronze in the Men’s -90kg category, capping off an excellent comeback to secure a first podium finish of the year for himself.

British Judo also saw strong efforts from Max Gregory and Wesley Greenidge, who both competed but missed out on podium finishes.

After a long tough match against Jamal Petgrave, sending him into the repechage rounds, Max Gregory encountered Bosnia’s Tony Miletic, who managed to secure the win, taking Gregory out of medal contention for the weekend.

Wesley Greenidge, meanwhile, advanced through his quarter-final match with a solid victory over Romania’s Eduard Serban. In the semi-final, however, he was defeated by Serbia’s Igor Vracar, moving him into the repechage. His journey came to a close in a closely contested bout against another Serbian judoka, Aleksandar Kalabic.

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