Livingston girl Tomi falls short in quest for medal
Livingston’s Tomi Imrie was unable to make it past the first round at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Hungary.
The 16-year-old, who was competing in the -70kg women’s event, was defeated at the opening stage by eventual gold medal winner Viktoriya Novikava of Belarus.
Despite going into the competition having just recovered from a wrist injury, Tomi pushed her opponent all the way and was only defeated on a gold score.
She then went on to suffer a defeat to Croatia’s Mia Mihovilovic in the repechage to end Tomi’s hopes of a medal.
Despite the defeat, Tomi was keen to focus on the positives of the experience and being part of the British team at such a prestigious event.
She said:“It was a great experience to be out there with the atmosphere and hearing the support of my teammates. The level of competition is very high and there are a lot of strong girls.
“I’ve learnt a lot this week and I know my judo isn’t too far away and with another year I can build on my strength and tactics.”
She added: “It can be difficult, competing at the back end of the week, but I think it has helped me see what the event is like as it’s different to a lot of judo events due to the noise of the crowd.
“It’s been great to watch my teammates winning medals. ”