Triple triumph at Judo European Championships

Britain toasted triple bronze on the judo mats at the IBSA European Championships in Genoa, Italy.

Elliot Stewart, Chris Skelley and Jack Hodgson bounced back from semi-final losses to claim podium finishes on a memorable day two at the major event.

-90kg star Stewart, 31, won his pool by beating Georgia’s Avantandil Kirkitadze but fell at the hands of world champion and world number one Oleksandr Nazarenko.

In his bronze medal bout, the West Midlands product produced a beautiful throw for ippon to reach the rostrum at the biannual event.

Skelley, who represented ParalympicsGB at Rio 2016, also came up against class opposition in Abdula Kuramagomedov, a multiple European and world medallist.

Despite succumbing to the Russian, the 2015 European bronze medallist disposed of Oleksandr Pominov in around 90 seconds to claim -100kg bronze.

Meanwhile Hodgson edged a close contest with Romuald Raboteur, throwing his opponent for ippon to win bronze in the +100kg category.

A successful weekend for Britain continues tomorrow with Connah Anders (-66kg) and Evan Molloy (-81kg) on the hunt for more medals.