Jemima Yeats-Brown beats compatriot Powell to medal at Grand Prix
BySportsbeat
Updated 27/01/2019 at 18:19 GMT
Jemima Yeats-Brown won the first medal of her career as a -78kg division judoka as she beat compatriot Natalie Powell to win bronze at the Tel Aviv Grand Prix.
Jemima Yeats-Brown
Image credit: Getty Images
The Ryecroft athlete threw her more experienced teammate for ippon at Shlomo Arena in their third-placed contest.
It was the second time the pair have faced off in a bronze-medal contest, with Powell emerging as the winner last time out at the 2018 Budapest Grand Prix.
The result in Israel meant Powell had to settle for a fifth-placed finish.
Yeats-Brown moved up to the -78kg division in May last year and the outcome helps her as she picks up 34,350 points towards Tokyo 2020 qualification and should move inside the world top 30.
Speaking afterwards, Yeats-Brown said: "I am really happy with the medal.
"I've worked really hard the last few months to get my weight and strength up and it paid off. I love fighting and can't wait for the next one!"
Powell had a good start to the competition as she secured victory over Spain's Laia Talarn with two minutes to spare after two waza-ari scores to progress to the quarter finals.
Yeats-Brown followed suit by throwing Dutchwoman Karen Stevenson for ippon.
Both faced Portuguese opponents next up, with Powell progressing to the semi-finals as she forced Yahima Ramirez to tap.
But Patricia Sampaio defeated Yeats-Brown with a late waza-ari score, meaning the Brit moved into the repechage final.
She would go on to defeat Russia's Antonina Shmeleva with a waza-ari – when there were just three seconds left on the clock – to win her place in the bronze medal match.
Powell lost out in her semi-final against Kosovo's Loriana Kuka to set up the bronze-medal match with her compatriot.
Elsewhere, Frazer Chamberlain was eliminated in round two of the men's -90kg division by Jesper Smink from the Netherlands.
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