British judo goes into competition with expectation, not hope, says Donohue
BySportsbeat
Published 03/09/2017 at 18:26 GMT
Great Britain's judo team are now going into tournaments with expectation rather than just hope, according to British Judo performance director Nigel Donohue.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
The British team finished the World Judo Championships with two bronze medals, their best haul in ten years, after Nekoda Davis (-57kg) and Natalie Powell (-78kg) both claimed podium finishes.
The Mixed Team event on the final day of the championships, held in Budapest, Hungary, saw the British team exit at the Round of 16 stage against Korea.
The medals won by Davis and Powell are the first by British players since 2010, and Donohue believes there is a solid foundation for continued success at the highest level of the sport.
"Nekoda put in an exceptional performance," he said. "She fought in Rio last year and we knew she had an injury that needed attention post-Rio.
"She had the operation and came back very successfully, but unfortunately, she picked up a second injury this year that needed another operation.
"And to fight in the 57s for the first time since Rio and perform like that – it's an exceptional performance.
"Nekoda is technically a superb athlete, but mentally she is also very, very strong, and that's what got her the result on the day.
"Natalie was disappointed to finish seventh in Rio, and she set her sights very high – she came in very focused and her bronze medal match was the best I've ever seen her.
"It's about building momentum. When we started building this programme a number of years ago, we weren't consistently successful, and we relied on one or two players to get results at major championships.
"But now you're starting to see that at every level, in every event, we're extremely competitive and we're going to all events with the expectation we'll get a result.
"When we come to these events now, it's not about a little bit of hope, it's about expectation."
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