Britain shows judo potential in Abu Dhabi with second gold

On the third day in Abu Dhabi's Grand Slam Emma Reid displaced her compatriot to contest the gold against Boehm. They are two judoka with similar styles, good technically and with Reid superior in ne-waza.

Alina Boehm is in full transition between the junior environment and the world of the seniors. The German is part of that new generation that in this category has enormous firepower, with the world number one and current world champion Anna Maria Wagner and also Luise Malzahn. The same is true in Britain, where there is a new group of young women who are gaining ground and pushing back the old guard. To this point Natalie Powell was the best Brit at -78kg.

In the golden score period Boehm attacked but the British reacted explosively, nullifying the counterattack with a movement that could be considered as ko-uchi-gari with an unorthodox grip, using a change of direction. We are sure of a few things: it was quick and nice and it was worth a gold medal for Reid and spoke to us right after the final.

“I was nervous at the beginning, as I usually am before competitions, but today I felt more structured in my fights. I went through what we’ve been practising at home and that hard work gave me the confidence to go all the way.”

Natalie Powell imposed the hierarchy against Ukrainian Anastasyia Turchyn, with an excellent change of direction that ended in a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi that made a lot of noise and that meant one more bronze for Great Britain.

Inbar Lanir was in a hurry to get home. 30 seconds was all that was needed against Slovenia’s Patricija Brolih; waza-ari first and osae-komi in the continuation of the action. It was clean and forceful and brought a bronze for Israel.