Chris Skelley claimed silver at the IBSA Baku Grand Prix, the penultimate Paralympic qualification event before the Tokyo Paralympic Games later this year.
The Baku Grand Prix is the first competition that the British Judo VI team have competed in since the Tbilisi World Cup back in February 2020.
Skelley won his Pool, defeating Sulaymon Alaev (UZB) in the quarter-final, following an opening round bye. Despite going a waza-ari score down early in the contest, world number 1, Skelley, who is so dominant with his groundwork, won the contest with some excellent newaza to set up a semi-final contest against Oliver Upmann (GER).
Another dominant newaza display from Skelley saw him defeat Upmann to book his place in the final to face world number 2, and Rio Olympic Champion, Zviad Gogotchuri (GEO).
The final was a real battle between the world’s top two fighters in the -100kg category, but it was the experience of the current Paralympic Champion that saw him defeat Skelley by scoring two waza-ari’s.
