Ashley McKenzie

Ashley McKenzie knows he will have to perform better at Grand Slam events to mix it with the top players in the under-60kg division.

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The 22-year-old Willesden Judo Club Star left the Bercy Omnisports Arena extremely disappointed on Saturday after failing to reach the medal places at the prestigious IJF Paris Grand Slam event.

McKenzie overcame Yann Siccardi of Monaco, but his run was ended in a tight last 16 encounter against Georgia’s world number six Amiran Papinashvili – an opponent who had previously beaten him in a Dutch junior tournament.

“I really wanted a medal here due to the ranking points, so obviously I am disappointed,” said McKenzie, who made his second appearance at the popular French event.

“I’m up against my rival James Miller, which is another reason why I want to do well at these Grand Slam events.

“But the good thing is I haven’t lost to anyone below me in the rankings. The Papinashvili fight was close so where there were negatives there were positives but, at the end of the day I do want to win.”

At the moment red-hot Olympic medal favourite Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan is leading the way in the competitive under-60kg division and his dominance continued with victory over Korean Won Jin Kim in the Paris final.

But GB hopeful McKenzie, who claimed two World Cup title victories last year in Warsaw and Liverpool, is firmly focused on achieving a world top eight ranking by the end of London 2012.

He added: “I’m currently 23 in the world and I want to get into the top eight by the end of the Olympics.

“I’m not the finished article so I need to learn more. In the long run I’m getting better – I’m doing more work and really dedicating myself but it will come.

“I’m still young. I don’t just want to settle for World Cup medals, I want to settle for the big Grand Slam medals.”

McKenzie will not compete in the next ranking event, the Grand Prix in Dusseldorf, which takes place at the end of next week.