By Charlie Talbot-Smith

On paper it may look like Jamal Petgrave endured a European Youth Olympic Festival to forget, but the Mitcham judoka insists he will bounce back much improved for his experiences.

Petgrave, who only turned 16 in May, was one of the younger competitors in Utrecht and lost in the first round of the boys -81kg category to Dominik Druzeta from Croatia.

That day, Thursday, was a tough day in general on the mat for Team GB as all four competitors failed to follow the example of silver medallist from 48 hours previous Peter Miles and get on the podium.

But, rather than rue his defeat, Petgrave, who trains at Westcroft Judo Club and attends Harris Academy Merton, was adamant he had learned much that would serve him well moving forward.

“My opponent went for an attack and with my arm out straight he put in a lock and that was it,” said Petgrave.

“It was not my best performance but there is a lot for me to take away from the fight to work on going forward.

“I need to work on my attack rate, my posture, just a couple of things that I need to tweak here and there and I will come back next year a better player.

“My highlight of the season came at a European Cup in Croatia where I won three fights but this is a low point.

“But I will be a better player overall for the experience and will be one of the oldest in the cadets next year, this year almost everyone is older than me.”

A top-five finish at the Festival in Utrecht would have secured Petgrave a spot at another international competition – the Cadet World Championships in Miami next month.

But, after failing to achieve that, Petgrave can now go on his summer holiday and reflect on a season that he insists has been an overwhelming success.

“Heading to Utrecht I wanted to give it all I had and put in a good performance but I could only manage part of that,” he added.

“But this has made me want to go to an Olympics even more, I loved the atmosphere and the crowd were great. I will keep working hard and look forward to seeing what I can achieve next year.”

The British Olympic Association prepares and leads British athletes at the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. It works in partnership with sport National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values. www.teamgb.com