Gabriella Wood loses to ex-Euro champ in Olympic judo

Judoka Gabriella Wood was eliminated from her opening women’s heavyweight (+78kg) bout at the Nippon Budokan indoor arena in Tokyo on Thursday night.

Up against the more experienced and accomplished Belarusian Maryna Slutskaya, 30, in the round of 32, Wood was pinned just 53 seconds into the first round.

Slutskaya was crowned winner by ippon waza-ari. In judo, a waza-ari is awarded after an action in which the opponent is thrown with control and accuracy or immobilised on the mat for ten seconds.

The Belarusian was a clear favourite with appearances in five World Championships, two gold medals at the European Championships, a bronze at World Masters and multiple podium performances at Grand Slam, Grand Prix and World Cup events.

A visibly-dejected Wood was comforted by her Scottish coach Lee Calder as she exited the mat.

Wood is ranked 72 in the world while Slutskaya is ninth.

Wood will return to her Scotland base over the next seven days to assess and evaluate her debut performance at the Summer Games.

In a recent interview, Calder said he plans to prepare Wood for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.