Reed rushes to Gold as Powell moves up World Ranking List

Tom Reed (-81kg) swept to the biggest win of his career, claiming a stunning gold at the Miami Grand Prix in Florida on Sunday 16 June.

The Miami Grand Prix forms part of the IJF World Tour, carrying valuable points for the world rankings.

Reed, based in Bath, beat Argentinean Emmanuel Lucenti in a tight final by a single yuko to claim victory in the -81kg category.

His competition began against another Argentine Alfredo Effron which he won by ippon and scored another ippon against Joshua White to defeat the USA athlete on home soil.

This set up a semi-final against Tuvshinjargal Gan of Mongolia. The contest went to golden score and Reed claimed victory to book a place in the final where he battled Lucenti to win the gold.

It is his first major win since taking gold at the British Championships in Sheffield 18 months ago and his first at IJF World Tour level.

Meanwhile, Natalie Powell of Wales, won bronze for Britain in the women’s -78kg category, a result which will see her move up from 21st in the world ranking list and be pushing for a top 16 placing. This level of competition appears to be lucky for Powell whose last Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi gained her a silver medal.

Powell won her bronze with two ippon victories across three rounds with her first against USA’s Samantha Bleier and her second which clinched the bronze against Keivi Pinto of Venezuela. She had been knocked out of the semi-final of the bout by Germany’s Luise Malzahn.

Finishing fifth overall for GB was Matthew Purssey (-90kg) who was thrown for ippon by USA’s Colton Brown who won on home soil, denying him the bronze. Fellow -90kg judoka Andrew Burns finished a solid 7th place.

Image courtesy of Gabriel Sabau – IJF Media