Second round exit on debut for Chelsie Giles in Baku

Chelsie Giles went out in the second round on day two of the 2018 World Judo Championships in Baku on Friday 21 September.

The Coventry judoka was making her Worlds debut and had earned her place in Azerbaijan with Grand Prix silver and bronze in Antalya and Budapest respectively.

In the first round of -52kg Giles took on home fighter Buyankhishig Purevsuren (AZE) and immediately looked to put her opponent under pressure.

Giles looked to be controlling matters and forced Purevsuren into a couple of weak drop attacks.

The British fighter took advantage in newaza to setup sangaku and she held the Azerbaijan judoka for ippon.

WRL 9 Charline Van Snick (BEL) was next up in the second round and the Belgian judoka has been in good form since moving up a weight.

Van Snick won bronze at the London 2012 Olympics at -48kg but has already earned multiple Grand Slam and Grand Prix medals at -52kg.

Giles made a good start as she immediately but Van Snick under pressure. The Belgian judoka showed her class though as she controlled proceedings and soon took the lead by waza-ari.

Giles forced Van Snick to pick up a shido for a gripping infringement but could not match her opponent’s attack rate and got a shido for passivity.

With little under two minutes remaining Van Snick secured the win with another waza-ari score to knock Giles out in the second round.

Speaking afterwards the 21 year old said:

“Obviously a bit upset but I knew it was going to be a hard fight. It just didn’t plan out the way I wanted it to today.

“Next competition is Abu Dhabi (Grand Slam). I’m just training up till there now so, hopefully get back into it and bring a better performance next time.”

.@chelsiejudo: "It just didn’t plan out the way I wanted it to today"

Disappointment for the Chelsie Giles on her debut but she'll be back#WeAreGBJudo #JudoWorlds2018 pic.twitter.com/JPL6oyL2ze

— #WeAreGBJudo

Day Three (Saturday 21 September) will see last year’s World bronze medallist Nekoda Smythe-Davis fighting at -57kg.

Competition will start at 0700 UK time with live coverage via @BritishJudo on Twitter. There will be a full digital live stream via britishjudo.org.uk, live.ijf.org and Eurosport Player. There will also be broadcast coverage of the final block on the BBC Sport website and Red Button as well as Eurosport UK.