Judo: Gutsy Stormont ignores pain barrier

By CHRIS BARCLAY

A sprained right ankle in Japan was not going to stop Rochelle Stormont from making the Games.

And when the left ankle gave out less than a minute into her debut, she fought through the pain barrier before exiting from her highly competitive class at the G-Mex Centre in Manchester.

The South Auckland 20-year-old was close to tears and needed extensive strapping after losing to England's Clare Lynch 50s into their five-minute bout.

Adding insult to injury, Stormont suffered the injury as Lynch, a former Youth Olympics bronze medallist, pinned her down to secure a swift ippon.

Stormont stepped gingerly from the mat and had half-an-hour of treatment before she had a make-or-break bout with experienced Canadian Carolyne Lepage.

Although clearly in discomfort and with limited mobility, Stormont battled for two minutes before succumbing to another ippon.

Despite the pain she never thought of pulling out.

"I would be out there if [the ankle] was broken. I was always going out there," she said.

"This was an experience and it's something to learn from, and it's an experience I wouldn't pass up.

"I don't know if judo is at the next Games [Melbourne 2006] or not."

She headed to the Games Village for physio and expected to rest at home before returning to competition.

Her ultimate goal is the Athens Olympics in 2004.

New Zealand head coach Stephen Corkin was impressed with her fortitude.

"She sprained her ankle two weeks ago and that affected her training," he said.

"Then her other one goes, but she still wanted to compete.

"Rochelle is developing well. She's competed since she was a little kid, but only in New Zealand. She's gone from being a junior with junior technique to battling top players in the world."

In the men's under-66kg division, Auckland student Andrew Ross was on the brink of surviving his first encounter when Pakistani Muhammed Butt conjured up a winning leg swing that scored the bout-clinching ippon.

"Andy should have won that fight. He was winning it all the way," Corkin said.

"The guy hooked in, Andy tried to step over it, but got rolled with 15s to go. He was just a bit unlucky."

Ross then had to rely on Butt making the semifinals so he could earn a repechage, but the Pakistani was eliminated in the next round by Welshman Timothy Davies.

Tim Slyfield has been blessed with a good draw in the men's under-81kg class today.

The London-based full-time judoka has an opening bout against Ghanian David Abugbuah and will then need to beat India's Vinod Solanki to reach a potential semifinal with 1999 world champion Graeme Randall, of Scotland.

On the other side of the draw, Welshman Luke Preston and Thomas Cousins, of England, are shaping up as the main dangers.

Gareth Knight, of Auckland, also makes his Games debut, in the under-90kg competition, and Gisborne's Mellissa Jones will strike a daunting draw in the women's under-57kg category.

If she gets past highly rated Canadian Luc Baillargeon, the Sydney Olympic bronze medallist, Australian Maria Pekli is expected to be her obstacle to the gold medal bout.

- NZPA

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