MATCH REPORTS Jul-Dec 2012

7th July - National Team Championships, Sheffield

The EJC team, representing London at the National Team Championships: Eliot Bradford, Hanna Toogood, Lucy Chamberlain), Nekoda Davis, Jenny Costen, Daniel Woodhouse, Ali Abdelaal, Julia Scardone, Blixa Aguerreberry and Mason Gulaidi-Barber.

Success in this tournament, offered Daniel, Hannah, Jenny and Ali their first National medals. Mason, Lucy, Eliot and Nekoda have all been members of the England team and so they have great support to our less experienced team-mates.

The senior women's London team, including our Julia, Lucy, Jenny and Nekoda won a bronze medal after 3 closely fought rounds. The Junior Boys London team, including our Ali, Eliot, Daniel, Blixa and Mason also won bronze after a tough 4 round day.

The Junior women's team, gold medalists from last year, including EJC's Hanna, Nekoda, Julia and Lucy were again coached by EJC Head Coach, Jo. The team beat the teams from the West of England and Scotland to reach the semi final. There they beat the strong Midlands team, to make it to the final again. In the final they met the Northern Home Counties and were beaten, having to settle for silver. It was an exciting day, with some fantastic performances. Ealing Judo Club members won 13 National medals between them, which was an outstanding result. Congratulations to everyone involved.

8th July - Samurai Kyu Grade Championships, Kidderminster, Midlands

Just 4 members of EJC travelled to Kidderminster for this friendly Senior event. Jenny, right on the back of her EJC debut, at yesterday's National Team Championships, Sammie, Martin and Eliot were eager to gain some experience and for 3 of the group, maybe some points towards their Dan grades too.

Sammie fought well, winning one contest. A good result for her debut contest for the club. She did not medal, but is ready for her next outing. Martin won a bronze in the low grade section on his contest debut, while Jenny also won a bronze, but in the higher graded women's section. Eliot had a great day, winning gold in the tournament, but also gaining enough points to complete his Dan Grade. He is EJC's 17th black belt. Excellent work from all 4 fighters.

14th July - Samurai Green Belt and Below, Kidderminster, Midlands

Yes, we were back to sunny Kidderminster today, but this time for our younger members. Kiran, James and Erik each won a bronze. For Erik it was a special day, as having passed his bronze young refereeing award only two weeks ago, he was refereeing for the first time, during contests before his group was called.

Michael O'Toole fought in a dominant fashion in the red and yellow belt section, winning all his contests to take the gold. He was invited to take part in the higher grade section and did so, winning himself a bronze!

11th August - German Junior European Cup, Berlin, Germany

Nekoda was selected to represent Great Britain at the very tough European Cup. With a fantastic track record this year Nekoda was confident she could deliver a good performance and that she did. She won her first 3 contests by ippon and then her quarter final by a decision against the strong German she had lost to earlier in the year. In the semi she was countered and had to move down into the repercharge, with one contest between her and the bronze medal.

In the bronze medal contest Nekoda faced the strong Polish fighter, Podolak, ranked 3rd on the European ranking list. Nekoda dug in and won the fight by a waza-ari. Nekoda was the only British result at the event, showing just how hard it is to win a medal in Germany. It is a great result and as always EJC is very proud.

Above: Nekoda on the rostrum in Berlin.

26th August - Eastern Area Senior Open, Norfolk

The EJC youngsters set about their tasks today with cool, calm professionalism. All fought well and gave perfromances that displayed just how hard they hard been working. Congratulations to Jerome and Nekoda for winning gold medals, while Lucy won a bronze, in her first individual tournament for quite some time. Jenny, Akhil, Sammie and Joe each placed 5th. Our friend from the Western Area, Jemima also won gold.

2nd September - NHC Junior Open, High Wycombe

Mason and little Blake worked hard with coach  John to bring home the metal adn they did just that. each boy won all contests, with some excellent judo, beating top class opposition along the way. Each came away with a well deserved gold medal. Well done boys.

8th & 9th September - Heart of England Championships, Walsall, Midlands

Above: Ali, Big Blake and Mason with their medals from Day 1.

Below: Luke, Eliot and Akhil with their medals from Day 2.

Overall EJC had a very positive weekend at this popular tournament in the Midlands. There was a huge entry in some categories and teams in attendance from Ireland, Italy and Australia!

Four of our fighters are members of the current England Squad and all 4 took medals, showing why they are in their National Team. Well done to Mason for his gold, Harkirat for her silver in the Seniors and bronze in the Juniors, Big Blake for his bronze and Eliot for his silver.

We also had a silver medal from Jerome in the Senior u81kg groups and a silver medal from Luke Balfre, competing in his debut for the club. Luke fought among 30 other 73kg lads for the podium spots and deserved his fantastic silver. Our Ali also put in a superb performance with lots of big throws, to take a bronze in the u46kg pre-cadet group. Akhil equalled these feats, but it took a massive 7 fights to get that bronze! Our friend from Willesden, Theo, also won gold in the men's u100kg section.

Sammie, Erik, Ibrahim, Blixa, Lucy, Christopher, Daniel V, Joe, Jenny, Julia, Omar, Little Blake and Phoebe each fought hard, but missed out on medals.Team spirit was strong and I look forward to their next outing. Well done to all.

15th & 16th September - Welsh Open Championships, Cardiff

It was great to have members of EJC fighting at Junior, Senior and Masters levels this weekend.

In the A Band Sofija won gold and in the B Band Mason won gold medal too, while Ali won a bronze. Chris won bronze in the C Band, while Luke put in a fantastic performance to just miss out on a medal in the D Band.

On Day 2 Harkirat won a Senior bronze, with John taking a bronze in the Masters section.

Over this long weekend little Blake, Ibrahim, phoebe, Jenny and Sammie also gave it their all. Well done to the whole team.

22nd September - Junior (u20) European Championships, Porec, Croatia

Nekoda has ahd an outstanding final year of Junior judo, winning 3 Junior European Cups and taking medals in 2 others. She even placed 7th at the Senior European Cup in London. She is British Champion and deservedly so.

In Porec, Nekoda, seeded 2, won her first contest against an unknown Turk, holding her down inside the first minute. The second contest, against a Dutch opponent, was very close, but at the end of time Nekoda had lost, narrowly. This was the fight to get into the quart finals and with the employed system this lost put Nekoda out of the tournament.

Nekoda was disppointed with her result on the day, but has said since that no-one can take away all the excellent work she has put in this year and so she is now looking forward to the beginning of her senior judo career.

Ealing Judo Club is very proud to have Nekoda represent us and supports her all the way to the very top. Good luck for the next stage of your career.

29th September - British Masters Championships, Belfast, Northern Ireland

John Hough was in action today and fought very well in a popular group. He just missed out on the medals, placing 5th.

30th September - British 'A' Band Championships, St Helen's

The 'A' Band of the British Championships was run in the dark and unwelcoming Sutton Leisure Centre in St Helens, Merseyside and to be honest it wasn't presented in the most positive way. The event needed some sparkle, lacking music, celebrity or pomp of any kind. The best young athletes in Great Britain were fighting their hearts out to try to be British Champion, but were rewarded with medals smaller than I would expect at most mini-mons!

However, the athletes themselves put on a fine show. Michael and Jack showed that they will be taking medals at this level in the near future, with some excellent wins in the early rounds. They fought from the heart and despite not placing, both did themselves proud.

In a huge group little Tohgo performed excellently, offering devastating uchi-matas, great agility and a mature desire to win. He fought 7 contests in total and won 5, placing 5th overall. It was a shame that the refereeing let him down in the bronze fight, but that can take nothing away from his brilliant day of Judo. He was truly mighty!

Sofija fought in the highest quality girls' group of the event. It was tactical, high energy Judo, with a number of adversaries all capable of topping the podium. Sofija won her first and second contests with her determination and that took her into the final, an awesome achievement. The final was a close and cagey affair between long-time rivals, with near-scores all over the place. Sofija dug in as hard as she could but eventually lost out in golden score. Her silver medal is one she and we are very proud of and is Sofija's second National medal in as many years.

Congratulations to all 4 of these young Judoka. They are a credit to us and their parents.

Above: the 4 excellent medalists at the British Championships for 10 & 11 year olds, in the girls u36kg category.

6th October - High Wycombe Kyu Grade Cup, Buckinghamshire

We had 3 competitors at this well attended senior event. Sam P and Becca were with us for their debut and each fought well. Sam didn't place, while Becca won a bronze.

EJC's Tigger-like monster, Phoebe was on point however. She won with some great Judo and took home a gold medal and a bucket more points towards her Dan grade.

Well done to the spirited trio, it was a pleasure to coach you all today.

7th October - Devizes Annual Tournament, Devizes, Wiltshire

We had an excellent day in Devizes, as always. It was a well-organised event with something for everyone in the u12, u16 and senior categories. All players equipped themselves well and supported the team positively.

Under 12
GOLD Blake Gulaidi-Barber
SILVER Megan Walmsley
SILVER Sofija Bojat
SILVER Jack Vary
BRONZE Hollie Walmsley
BRONZE Tohgo Kimura

Under 16
GOLD Showgo Kimura
GOLD Daniel Vary
SILVER Sofija Bojat
SILVER Blake Gulaidi-Barber
SILVER Mason Gulaidi-Barber
SILVER Chris Corrigan
SILVER Daniel Vary (Open)
BRONZE Hollie Walmsley
BRONZE Ibrahim Abdelaal
BRONZE Ali Abdelaal
BRONZE Damian Wolodkiewicz

Senior
GOLD Harkirat Sekhon
GOLD Lucy Chamberlain
SILVER Julia Scardone
BRONZE Phoebe Harris
BRONZE Hanna Toogood
BRONZE Luke Balfre
BRONZE Eliot Bradford
BRONZE Van van de Moir

Well done to Michael O'Toole, Jordan Penhallow, Omar Mansouri, Erik Gee, Blake Inniss, Joe Thorpe & Ben Anderson too, for their efforts.

13th & 14th October - British Championships, Sheffield

The young Ealing Judo Club athletes had an outstanding weekend, the best ever for EJC at this event.

On day 1 Showgo looked to be on form, throwing his first 2 opponents with beautiful techniques, for ippon. He then lost his quarter final, leaving him with 3 fights for a bronze. He won the first and was winning the second when he was caught with a super-fast drop throw. This left Showgo in 7th place. He is now motivated to gain a better result in January in the new age bands.

Little Blake moved into a new weight category, but despite a valiant effort did not gain a result. Ibrahim, Ali, big Blake and Christopher all fought well but with no results.

Erik had a fantastic day, winning two contests and losing two. He was happy with his performance and feels ready to build on this success for the new year. Omar and Daniel V, both in the Cadet age band, gave it a good shot but to no avail this time.

Also in the Cadet age band, Blixa displayed some good judo, but had to settle for 5th place, just outside the medals.

Our two medals on day one came from very different places. Mason looked unstoppable in the Pre-Cadet u38kg group, dispatching his first opponent cleanly in the first exchange, with an awesome chop down and transition. He won his next by ippon too and then the semi against a former national champion was won by penalties. In the final Mason faced an old adversary, but worked extremely hard to win by referees' decision at the end of golden score. This is Mason's second time being British Champion and we are all very proud of him.

Above: Mason and Eliot with their medals, presented by Ashley Mckenzie - Olympian and long-time friend of EJC.

Eliot's medal came in the +90kg Cadet boys group. He won his first two contests convincingly, putting him in a semi-final against the previous year's British Champion. It was a close contest, eventually decided on penalties. Eliot had to settle for a bronze medal. This is Eliot's 7th national medal and we are very proud of all of his achievments.

Then we move on to day 2, with our Junior (u20) players stepping up to the plate. Harkirat was first up, in the poorly attended u48kg section. Harkirat fought up in the u52s aswell, to get more practice, while earning a silver medal at 48s.

Julia won her first individual National medal, a bronze, for Ealing Judo CLub, with some of her best judo ever. She narrowly lost the semi-final against the strong Welsh athlete. Nekoda was in the same group and came through the other side of the draw, with some very high quality throwing techniques. She went into the final confidently and won with a clean sweep of scores across the board. Below Nekoda can be seen throwing for ippon in her first contest of the day, on her way to the gold.

Young Hanna fought a gutsy campaign at u70kg, but came away without a result. Luke also fought well at u73kg, winning 2 and losing 2, a little short of the medal stages.

Lucy Chamberlain, back to form after a little time out of the sport, fought in the +78kg young women's category and fought well! It was a high quality field, but Lucy pulled off a bronze medal, her 9th National medal of her career to date.

Daniel Woodhouse was the last to cement his result. In the first round Dan threw for ippon very early in the contest, with a stunning uchi-mata,. leaving his opponent a little shell-shocked. The next went for waza-ari, but then disaster struck when in the semi-final Daniel went over his own ankle badly, capitalised on by his opponent. Daniel lost the contest and still needed one more win for a bronze medal. That win came with an outstanding, low ouchi-gari for ippon.

To recap:
GOLD Mason Gulaidi-Barber - Pre-Cadet u38kg
GOLD Nekoda Davis - Junior u57kg
SILVER Harkirat Sekhon - Junior u48kg
BRONZE Eliot Bradford - Cadet +90kg
BRONZE Julia Scardone - Junior u57kg
BRONZE Lucy Chamberlain - Junior +78kg
BRONZE Daniel Woodhouse - Junior u81kg

Our added bonus for the weekend was that Luke won the last ppoints needed to earn his 1st Dan. Congratulations to Luke from all of the EJC family. Please also see below a medal table for the event. We are very proud of our overall placing and would like to thank all the parents and other supporters who have encouraged these young athletes to be the best they can be.

20th October - Serbian Senior European Cup, Belgrade, Serbia

Nekoda was selected to represent Great Britain at this well attended European Cup, her first senior selection. She was to face a home girl, Ostojic, in the first round. Nekoda dispatched her quickly for ippon, moving on to the awkward Italian in round two. Nekoda dominated the contest, winning by yuko at full time. Below is a great shot from this round two contest.

In the quarter final she was up against the very experienced Slovenian, Nareks, who has amassed more than 25 World Cup/Grand Slam medals. On paper this was going to be an impossible fight to win, but Nekoda and Jo worked on the strategy and planned the fight out and with Nekoda's strength and skill at the helm a win came in the form of a yuko throw, consolidated by 2 penalties against Nareks.This was an outstanding win, to see Nekoda into the semi, against a strong left-handed youngster from Montenegro. Nekoda threw her for ippon in the second exchange to reach the final. There she fought a real scrapper from Romania and despite going ahead early on with 2 great throws, Nekoda succumbed to a waza-ari throw in the closing stages and had to settle for a silver medal.

This event has shown Nekoda is ready to make the often challenging transition into the senior world of judo and we wish her every success at the Swedish European Cup next week. Below is a photograph of Nekoda during the final.

26th October - Swedish Senior European Cup, Boras, Sweden

Two weeks on the bounce Nekoda is fighting at this new higher level. With a silver last week in Belgrade a consolidation was the hope. Nekoda performed well again, despite a loss in the 1st round against the Austrian. She won the following 3 contests, in the repecharge and won an excellent bronze medal. Before Serbia Nekoda was ranked 58th in Europe, after the event, coming into Sweden she was 28th. She now sits at 19 and is aiming high!

27th October - Flanders Cup, Lommel, Belgium

Mason and Harkirat were selected to represent England at this popular event on the continent. Mason won his first 3 contests, winning his pool, but a harsh referees' decision at the end of golden score in the first round of knockouts saw Mason go out of the tournament. He walks away with his head held high, ready to meet the next challenge. Harkirat fought very well, putting some new techniques into play, to win a bronze medal for her country. Well done to both, flying the flag.

27th October - Irish Open, Dublin, Eire

Chris Corrigan travelled to Dublin on holiday, but in true EJC style managed to slip into the Irish premier event of the year. He fought well after losing out to a Dutch competitior in the first round, to come back and win 4 straight in the repecharge, beating Irish, British and Norwegian Judoka along the way. He won a great bronze medal, a special medal from his homeland to add to his collection.

27th & 28th October - Southend International, Southend, Essex

We had a good weekend in Southend at a well run event with a great atmosphere. There were lots of fantastic performances. Results below:

GOLD Hollie Walmsley
GOLD Sammie Grant
SILVER Megan Walmsley
SILVER Van van der Moir
BRONZE Omar Mansouri
BRONZE Blixa Aguerreberry
BRONZE Luke Balfre
BRONZE Daniel Woodhouse
BRONZE Sofija Bojat
BRONZE Jack Vary

Highlights: Sammie winning her first gold medal, Omar being so happy with his medal after such a gritty performance, Dan Vary digging in in the repecharge final to win by flags ina really tough bout... the list could go on.

Well done to Remi, Dan V, Erik, Big Blake and Julia for their contribution to the team's weekend.

Above: Sammie takes gold at the Southend Senior International.

3rd November - Northern Home Counties Red Belt Championships, Harlow, Essex

It was an easy run over to Essex for this wel presented Red Belt bash. We had 5 boys in attendance. Sasha and Mark were in fine form, each winning a gold after 3 contests. Sasha put in a couple of particularly big ippon throws. There was a silver for relative newcomer Sally and Kenta and Nikita each won a bronze medal. Kenta was then asked to fight up in the older age category and he did so gladly. Although it was tough up there Kenta was still awarded with another bronze medal for his trouble.

16th November - u23 European Championships, Prague, Czech Republic

Nekoda was selected to represent GBR at this extremely tough European Championships, despite still being a Junior athlete. Nekoda won her first round contest against Szabo of Hungary, herself a Junior European medalist. Nekoda then lost out in a close contest to the strong Slovenian, who also medalled at the Junior European Championships. Due to the system used, this was the end of Nekoda's day. As always, we are extremely proud of the continuous hard work she puts in and are looking forward to continuing to support her through 2013 and beyond.

18th November - South Coast Junior Age Banded Championships, Worthing, Sussex

Above: Top - Mason. Middle row - Damian, Sofija, Blake, Hollie. Bottom row - Dan, Ibrahim, Ali, Megan.

There were golds for Megan and Mason, a silver for Sofija and bronzes for Hollie, Blake GB, Ibrahim, Ali and Dan Vary. Omar and Damian also fought well but just missed out on medals.Everyone did a great job today, but particular highlights came from Dan Vary's excellent gripping and Ali's massive throws. Well done everyone.

24th November - South of England Junior & Youth Open, K2, Crawley, Sussex

Congratulations to an excellent little team of mighties/tiny mighties in Crawley today. Well done to Phoebe, Hanna, Ibrahim and Erik, who gave a good account of themselves, despite not winning medals.

Young Jordan Penhallow was at only his 2nd tournament and raised his game to meet the size of the event. He won in the first round and the quarter final before losing out in the semi. He then won the bronze medal match by ippon, to win his first medal, a bronze, for EJC. The picture below shows Jordan with his medal.

Michael O'Toole was a professional in the age 10-11 category, winning his quarter and semi finals by ippon, to see him safely into the final. There he was beaten with only seconds to go, having to settle for a very positive silver.

Mason and Ali both went up to new weight groups in Crawley and only by a very small margin, but that didn't stop them. Both boys won all contests, all by ippon for Ali, winning each boy a very impressive gold medal.

There were bronze medals too for little Blake and Luke Balfre. Both fought well, only dropping one win each.

25th November - Bev Price Teams, Kidderminster, Midlands

Above: Our wonderful lightweight girls' team with Megan at the front, Hollie in the middle and Sofija at the back.

Over 4 rounds our little ones beat teams from Wirral, Pyrford, Samurai (the host club) and Pinewood (former chapions of the event). They displayed great team spirit and excellent judo, with tiny Megan's ne-waza being particularly strong. The girls were very pleased with their Gold medal winning result, especially as team events don't come along very often.

Our boys' heavyweight team of Chris, Erik and Luka just missed out on a place in the semi, by a few points in the first pool, despite a gutsy performance in the last round. Well done to all who came.

9th December - Northern Home Counties Age Banded Championships, Harlow, Essex

We had an excellent day in Harlow, with some very strong performances from the team. All players won medals, which doesn't happen every week and certainly doesn't happen without them putting in a lot of hard work beforehand. Well done to everyone who fought and to the parents who came along to support.

Under 12
GOLD Sofija Bojat
SILVER Michael O'Toole
SILVER Megan Walmsley
BRONZE Tohgo Kimura

Under 16
GOLD Blake Gulaidi-Barber
GOLD Showgo Kimura
SILVER Mason Gulaidi-Barber
BRONZE Hollie Walmsley
BRONZE Erik Gee
BRONZE Omar Mansoouri

Under 20
GOLD Daniel Woodhouse
SILVER Blixa Aguerreberry
SILVER Dan Vary
BRONZE Remi Biernat

20th December - Ealing Judo Club Christmas Championships, Ealing, London

We had a very positive evening at our home event, with which we ended our competitive year. We invited friends from Osterley and Willow Heart Judo Clubs and together we provided our youngest members with a great experience of competitive judo. 

GOLD Peter Davies
GOLD Alessio Martinelli
GOLD Mark Charadnik
GOLD Jordan Penhallow
GOLD Paige Bartlett
SILVER Ellis Davies
SILVER Luke Davies
SILVER Caoimhe Earles
SILVER Miri Tchiprout
SILVER Towako Morita
BRONZE Samuel Spencer
BRONZE Tyler Offiah
BRONZE Lucas McGivney
BRONZE Yuiko Morita
BRONZE Ryuka Harada
BRONZE Maddie Birri