Great Britain, Algeria and Canada benefit in Wollongong

The investments seemed to be worth while for the British fighters who won three gold medals this weekend in Australia at the Oceania Open in Wollongong. The Britons captured three gold medals. One on day 1 and two on Saturday by Megan Fletcher and Sarah Adlington. Both gained a precious 100 points for the IJF World Ranking.

Fletcher defeated Kathleen Sell of the USA in the final U70kg while Adlington also defeated an American judoka, Nina Cutro-Kelly. Last week it was Ben Fletcher to win in Port Louis, now sister Megan in Wollongong. On Friday Swiss Emilie Amaron added her second victory in one week, in Port Louis and Australia.

Many athletes combined that opportunity in Madagascar with this one, Adlington finished with bronze in Africa. Owen Livesey took silver twice. He lost the men’s final U81kg against Emirhan Yucel of Turkey, a remarkable name, but the Turk is in fact Amiran Ianvarashvili of Georgia who went to Turkey in 2014 together with Bekir Ozlu. He lived with his parents in the USA. Was injured for a few months and made his debut for Turkey at the European Open in Glasgow in 2015. He seems to be a valuable asset for Turkey.

Another adventurer, Sarah Myriam Mazouz of Gabon won international senior medals since 2012 and claimed 5 medals in 2015 at PanAm Opens and silver at the Grand Prix in Ulaanbaatar in 2015 which was her international breakthrough. Until 2014 Mazouz fought for Canada. This time she won the class U78kg in Wollongong in the final against Miranda Giambelli (AUS).

Mammadali Mehdiyev (AZE) won the gold U90kg. He defeated Ciril Grossklaus of Switzerland. Grossklaus is in shape and won the gold at the Euro Open in Glasgow. Mehdiyev is a former World bronze winner at the World Junior Championships in 2013. He won 5 World Cup medals in total since 2012 and booked his first victory here in Wollogong.

Lyes Bouyacoub won the second gold medal for Africa. The Algerian defeated Mongolian Davaadorj Bat-Erdene in the final U100kg. The 32-year old Bouyacoub won the African Games in Brazzaville in 2015 U100kg. He won World Cups in Port Louis, Casablanca and this weekend’s Oceania Open. With these victories he is stable on his way to Rio ranked 14th.

Mohammed Tayeb ended the African success story in Australia. Tayeb won the category +100kg after he beat Ushangi Kokauri of Georgia who preferred to gain 60 points instead of a medal at the Georgian National championships this week. The World Military Games champion is struggling to qualify for Rio, but these 100 points will help him.

Great Britain with three gold medals tops the list for Algeria and Canada, both with two victories in their the bags, back home.