Gibbons wins bronze at World University Games
9th July 2009TeamBath judo player and University of Bath student Gemma Gibbons has won bronze at the 2009 World University Games.
Gibbons took the bronze medal in the under-70kg class of the competition at Belgrade in Serbia.
The 22-year-old Sports Performance student beat Kyong Sol from North Korea in her opening contest and then dispatched Nataliya Smal of Ukraine in her next bout to set up a semi-final against Purevjargal Lkhamegd of Mongolia.
Gibbons lost that one, but then beat Dutch fighter Linda Bolder in the repechage to secure a well-earned bronze.
Afterwards Gibbons said: “I was disappointed to lose in the semi-final but I am delighted to leave Belgrade with a bronze medal. It is a great honour to represent Great Britain and to win a medal is a great feeling.”
Her performance takes the British team’s medal tally at the Games to date to four.
Gibbons was British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) champion in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and finished in seventh at the last World University Games in Bangkok in 2007.
But fellow TeamBath players Andy Burns, Kate Walker and Sian Wilson finished out of the medals in their individual competitions.
Burns lost to Sweden’s Emil Edmar in the men’s under-90kg class. In the women’s under-63kg class, Walker beat Turkey’s Bahar Buker in the first round but then went down to Olena Sayko of Ukraine. Wilson lost her opening contest at under-78kg to Raquel Prieto Madrigal of Spain.
In the swimming pool, University of Bath Business Administration graduate Matt Clay just missed out on the medals in the 50m backstroke final. Clay finished fourth in 25.29 seconds in a fast race that saw the first five finishers go inside the old World University Games record.
Footballers Gary Warren and Matt Townley have both featured heavily in Britain’s campaign in Belgrade. Warren has played in all four games to date, netting in a penalty shoot-out as Britain went down 6-5 against Ukraine after the scores were tied at 0-0 in their semi-final. Britain now face Japan in the bronze medal match tomorrow (Friday).
Grace McCatty has also featured for the British women’s team, that also went out 6-5 in a semi-final penalty shoot-out, this time against Japan, after the scores were tied at 0-0 in normal time. Britain’s women now face France in tomorrow’s bronze medal match.