Moorhead and Howell narrowly miss Quarter-Finals

It was another tough day for GB Judo on the fourth day of the International Judo Federation World Championships in Doha, as Gemma Howell (Wolverhampton JC; Bill Kelly) and Lachlan Moorhead (Sheffield JC; Matt Moorhead) both narrowly missed out on places in their respective Quarter-Finals, as they bowed out of the championships in the third round.

European Champion Howell made light work of her opening round contest, throwing her opponent, Carolina Delgado-Frances (CPV) in the opening 40-seconds of the fight.

Howell entrusted her superior strength in ne-waza to defeat her Round Two opponent, Augustina De-Lucia (ARG), as she pinned the Argentinian fighter in an osaekomi hold down for ippon score to progress to Round Three where she faced Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard in a repeat of the 2022 Commonwealth Games final.

Beauchemin-Pinard found herself with two shidos to Howell’s one as the contest looked destined for Golden Score. With the Canadian judoka on the ground Howell looked to work an opening in ne-waza but the Olympic bronze and 2022 World Championship silver medallist turned Howell and applied an osaekomi hold down of her own to register a score to progress to the Quarter-Finals.

In the -81kg category, Moorhead defeated Bearach Gleeson (IRL) in his opening round contest in Pool C. Moorhead produced a kouchi gari throw for ippon score in the opening exchange of Golden Score to progress to Round Two where her faced Theodoros Demourtsidis (GRE).

Moorhead secured his place in Round Three with a throw for ippon score in the final 6-seconds of the contest to defeat Demourtsidis.

7^th seed Attila Ungvari (HUN) stood between Moorhead and a place in the Quarter-Finals. Moorhead picked up two penalty shidos before the contest entered Golden Score where, with the clock nearing the 7-minute mark, Ungvari produced a throw for waza-ari score to progress to the Quarter-Finals and eliminate Moorhead.

Following a lengthy wait, after having an opening round bye, there was a shock defeat as Lucy Renshall (SKK; Pete Blood) was eliminated early in her Round Two contest by Joanne Van Lieshout (NED). With nothing between the pair, the contest entered Golden Score where Van Lieshout applied an arm lock to force Renshall to tap out and concede the contest.

Tomorrow will see three more GB judoka in action as Kelly Petersen-Pollard (Hardy Spicer; Fitzroy Davies) and Jemima Yeats-Brown (Ryecroft Judokwai; Ian Oliver) are both in action in the -70kg category whilst Jamal Petgrave (Westcroft Judo Club; Andy Ede) will compete in the -90kg category.

You can watch all the action from the Doha World Championships LIVE at judotv.com each day.

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