Announcements

LUCY Renshall continued her strong run of form at the end of 2016 as she won silver at the 2016 Qingdao Grand Prix on Saturday 19 November.

SKK’s Renshall was going into the Grand Prix off the back of winning gold at the Under-23 European Judo Championships in Tel Aviv.

The -63kg St Helens judoka got the better of China’s Cuijuan Shi in her opening contest with a yuko proving the difference in the British fighter’s favour.

Valentina Kostenko (RUS) was next up in the semi-finals but Renshall was too good for her opponent as a waza-ari score was enough to take her into the final against Nami Nabekura of Japan.

The Japanese judoka was Junior World Champion in 2015 and had won the Budapest Grand Prix earlier this year, which included a win over Rio Olympic gold medallist Tina Trstenjak (SLO).

It was a tight contest with both judoka looking to dominate the gripping exchanges and put in a number of attacks but at the end of regulation time neither judoka could be separated by shidos or scores.

Nabekura went straight on the attack in golden score and was able to throw Renshall for yuko despite her best attempts to spin out of the attack. Renshall was left to pick up a silver medal, her first on the IJF World Tour, as well as 180 ranking points.