CHELSIE Giles won IJF Grand Slam gold in Tel Aviv, Israel as the Coventry judoka continued her perfect start to the year with a second tournament victory.
The Coventry Judo Club star topped the podium in Israel having entered as the number one seed in the -52kg category to claim the second Grand Slam gold of her career having triumphed at the same venue in 2021.
Giles defeated Spain’s Ana Perez-Box in the final with some great newaza that forced her opponent to tap out having beaten the same opponent at the Portugal Grand Prix last month.
The 26-year-old came through a tough semi-final against Italy’s two-time Olympic medallist Odette Giuffrida and need an ippon in golden score to advance to the final.
And Giles also registered an ippon score in her quarter-final victory against Poland’s Aleksandra Kaleta as she secured the win in the final 10 seconds of the contest following a great change of direction.
That came after Giles defeated Spain’s Ariane Toro-Solern in the second round with two waza-ari scores following an opening round bye.
Giles also won gold at the IJF Grand Prix in Almada, Portugal last month to add to her European, World and Olympic medals.
