Alice Schlesinger strikes bronze at World judo Juniors

Israeli judoka Alice Schlesinger, 16, won a bronze medal at the junior world championships in Budapest yesterday after defeating You Shiije of China by an ippon in just 52 seconds.

Schlesinger, the youngest competitor at the tournament, fighting in the under 57 kilo category, won her first two bouts on Thursday, but lost her third fight and was relegated to the repechage round. On Friday she scored victories against opponents from the Ukraine and Taiwan to earn a place in yesterday's bronze medal bout.

"This is one of the greatest moments of my career, but I hope to bring back medals of another color," said Schlesinger, who also took bronze at the Youth Olympics in Paris last year and bronze at the European Junior Championship earlier this year.

The tournament is taking place in an experimental format where bouts are fought out over a three-day period, rather than the traditional one-day format.

Tania Simantov, 17, the European junior champion in the under 48 kilo category failed to win a medal. Simantov won her first two fights in the preliminary round by ippon, but then fell to an ippon from Japan's Tomoko Fukumi. In the repechage round, Simantov beat Christina Pro of the United States by an ippon in 35 seconds but then lost to Emilie Lafont of France, whom she beat for her bronze medal at the European championship earlier this year, and lost her chance to advance to the bronze medal bout. Simantov finished 7th overall.

Chen Bushari failed to make the repechage round U52kg after losing her second bout.

Yoni Wolf, 18, was defeated in his first bout yesterday U73kg.

Israel Judo Association chairman Eddy Koaz said the results showed that Israeli judo has depth. "Alice and Tania are continuing a tradition of success. They have brought a lot of honor to Israeli judo against opponents who or three years older than they are," Koaz said.