Mega medal haul for judo club
ST ALBANS Judo Club sent a strong Team to the 30th anniversary British Open Kata competition held at High Wycombe. The standard of the event increases every year and attracted teams from six countries, the team from St Albans had been training very hard
ST ALBANS Judo Club sent a strong Team to the 30th anniversary British Open Kata competition held at High Wycombe.
The standard of the event increases every year and attracted teams from six countries, the team from St Albans had been training very hard over the past year putting in many hours of practice and had set themselves a high target of all team pairs getting into the medals.
U12s Eleanor Howell and her partner Jamie Davies set the ball rolling with a superb performance of the first set of Gatame-No-Kata and clinched a very well earned silver medal.
Eleanor's brother Bradley, 12, and partner Victoria Cleevely, 11, presented a spirited two sets in the U16s Gatame-No-Kata with the pair also earning a silver medal. Megan Taylor and Sophie Day improved on last year's silver to take the gold medal and British Title in the U16s Ju-No-Kata - a kata of attack and defence which is shown at slow speed.
It was so far so good for the club with new partners Chris Pearse and Anton Charmen next up making their debut appearance in the Nationals entering in the U16s Nage-No-Kata.
Any nerves were soon blown away as the pair put on a life time best performance with a series of excellent throws, but were nudged back into the silver medal position by their team-mates Bradley Howell and Victoria Cleevely whose extra experience and technical secured them the gold position.
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The club's senior competitors did not disappoint either with Victoria`s elder brother second Dan Ricky and partner second Dan Darren Rolph doing themselves proud in the Kime-No-Kata with an exciting performance in a tough group that earned them a bronze medal.
Last up for the club were Bob Cleevely and Zoltan Borzak, also second Dans.
They lost points at the beginning of the Senior Ju-No-Kata as Zoltan struggled with cramp in his leg meaning they had to work really hard to finish third for a bronze.
It was a fantastic event with the team meeting their target.
The team and their families are now looking forward to see how well Bob and Zoltan do when they represent Great Britain in the first official World Championships in Malta later this month.
