Gemma Howell beat the 2009 World Champion on route to winning the silver medal at the 2010 Korean World Cup today.The 20-year-old has had a successful year, returning from injury in May and being selected to compete for Great Britain at the Senior World Championships in September. Her silver adds to four European Cup medals won this year.
The Telford youngster, who now trains full time at the British Judo Performance Institute, worked hard for the silver medal after a draw against a Korean in the first round. Out to impress, Ji-Eun Sung put up a good fight in front of her home crowd, but Howell’s focus was on the medal and she took the fight.
In the third round, Howell was up against 2009 World Champion Morgane Ribout of France. Howell, ranked 46th in the World, knew she was up against the World ranked no.6 going into the fight, but kept her cool.
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On the fight Howell said, “I knew she was a good fighter, but during the fight I was in the zone, so she was just another player on the mat.”
Howell secured her place in the semi-final and won the fight by ippon, “I have been working on my seo-nage and gripping in training and I won the fight with a double sided seoi-nage, so I was really pleased and I felt that my gripping was getting better with every fight,” she said.
Taking on another higher ranked player, Howell saw off the challenge from Battugs Od Tumen of Mongolia, winning the fight with a yuko.
Now in the final and guaranteed a medal, the Brit fought the current -57kg European Champion Corina Oana Caprioriu of Romania.
It was a close fight, with both players scoring, but Howell’s yuko was outscored by the Romanian’s waza-ari when the clock ran out and she took a well-deserved silver medal.
Delighted with her medal, Howell, who will travel with the team to Tokyo to compete in the Tokyo Grand Slam, said, “I am really happy with my performance and silver medal.
“It is my first World Cup medal for a few years, so I am really pleased to come to the end of the year on a high.
“I am looking forward to the training camp now and fingers crossed I can also do well at the Tokyo Grand Slam.”
Elsewhere on the first day of competition, Colin Oates (-66kg) and Sophie Cox (-52kg) finished just outside the medals in 5th places.
Oates overcame a tough first round draw against Bradford Bolen (USA), who is ranked 19 places higher that the Brit, to also win his next two fights. Oates then lost to Liu Renwang of China, who took the bronze.
Cox won her first two fights against two tough players from France and Russia, but it was the 2010 IJF Masters silver medallist Laura Gomez of Spain that put the Brit into the repechage. Cox then lost to Solongo Baatasaikhan of Mongolia.
Commenting on the first day of competition, Head Coach Patrick Roux said, “Gemma once again put in a good performance and this is exactly what we are looking for now at this stage in the Olympic cycle - consistency. She has made a dynamic improvement over the last year, which is impressive to see.
“We have encouraged our key players to use gap analysis and look at how they fight, which I think is working really well. We now need to keep the momentum going and onto the camp, which will be a good build up to the Tokyo Grand Slam.”
Competing on Saturday 4th December is Winston Gordon (-90kg), James Austin (-100kg), Gemma Gibbons (-70kg), Sally Conway (-70kg) and Sarah Adlington (+78kg).
The British team will travel to Tokyo next week, where Euan Burton and Karina Bryant will join them in competition at the Grand Slam.
Louise Hudson, Sportsister
The Women’s’ Sports Magazine
