Shropshire Star

Telford's Gemma Howell grapples to Judo silver in first Grand Slam final

The decision to drop a weight paid off for judoka Gemma Howell as she claimed a silver medal in her maiden Grand Slam final.

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Howell, 31, who is from Telford, starred in Israel’s Tel Aviv showpiece event to book herself a slot in the final against Japan’s Megumi Horikawa.

It would be rival Horikawa who edged the final for the gold medal, but Howell can reflect on a first Slam silver and final returning to her former under-63kg category.

Howell, who represents Wolverhampton Judo Club, secured an impressive victory over Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medal winner Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, of Canada, in her quarter-final.

She said after the event: “After Tokyo we made a decision to move back down to 63kg.

“I have worked with the support team to bring my weight down slowly to return to competition in 2022.

“I had my first competition back in Portugal a few weeks ago and it has taken me a couple of competitions to get back to competition fitness.

“I was disappointed with the final but will go back home and learn from it.

“Overall, I am happy with today, including beating Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist.”

Howell previously competed at the lighter weight in both the London and Rio Olympic Games and got off to a flyer against tricky sixth seed Geke Van Den Berg in round one, advancing via a waza-ari score inside 30 seconds.

The Shropshire fighter showed more excellent groundwork in round two against Spaniard Laura Vazquez-Fernandez to progress to fight Beauchemin-Pinard in the last eight. And it was Italy’s Nadia Simeoli stood between Howell and her first Grand Slam final.

But Stafford-born Howell excelled once more, making swift work of the final four bout. She scored a shime waza in the opening exchanges to set up the final contest against Horikawa.

The tense final saw both fighters awarded two penalty shidos each, Howell was further penalised for a leg grab, picking up a third, contest ending, shido, as she was forced to settle for silver.