MATCH REPORTS Jul-Dec 2016

2nd July - National Team Championships, Walsall

In the Pre-Cadet & A-Band category Luke Davies and rhys Connor won gold medals, with both boys showing extraordinary generosity of spirit and a team ethic well beyond their years. 

In the Cadet & Junior section the London girls team won gold, including our Sofija. The boys missed out despite a good showing from Ryan and Erik.

the senior teams each won bronze medals, giving Natasha and Giovanny some metal to bring home. 

24th July - West of England Open, Weston-Super-Mare

GOLD Showgo Kimura (Cadet)
GOLD Luke Davies
GOLD Jaap Kaur
GOLD Natasha Glassford
GOLD Showgo Kimura (Senior)
BRONZE Connor Gossedge
BRONZE Tohgo Kimura 
BRONZE Adam Burt
BRONZE Poppy Love
BRONZE Mantas Grinaveckis
BRONZE Sammie Grant
BRONZE Ryan Burt
Ibrahim Abdelaal & Dlair Singh placed 5th. Rhys Connor, Peter Davies & Lovepreet Singh all chalked up wins but didn't make it to the rostrum. 

8th August - Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Not many clubs are ever able to report on one of their players competing at the Olympic Games, nothing could make us prouder. Nekoda competed today in the -57kg category, having pushed her way into direct qualification through the 2 year qualification period. 

Above: Nekoda with our head coach, Jo Crowley and Slovenian Olympic Champion Urska Zolnir, who won the -63 category in London in 2012. 

Jo travelled to Brazil to support Nekoda and volunteer with the organising committee. It was a unique experience and certainly one that neither Jo or Nekoda will ever forget.

Nekoda won her first contest in style to move into the last 16, to face the French number 1, Olympic bronze medalist, Pavia. Nekoda was unable to secure the victory and so her day was over. This whole sexy le will prove to be a great platform from which to spring herself into the Tokyo cycle.

Below: Nekoda beating Filzmoser of Austria in her opening contest. Great to see coverage on the BBC.

8th August - EJC Olympic Day Ne-Waza Invitation

GOLD Matthew Bailey
GOLD Ellis Davies
SILVER Modi Kalch
SILVER Callum Burt

Following the event we ran a visitors and taster fun session, with visitors attending from a handful of local clubs and 3 newbies trying Judo for the first time. The. The whole group walked to a local pub, run by one of our club dads, to enjoy a buffet lunch and watching Nekoda compete in Rio, on the big screen.

Above: 2 of our little ones in battle today. Below: our Olympic day medals. 

14th August - Eastern Area Senior Ranking Event, Thetford

GOLD Lovepreet Singh 
SILVER Giovanny Antalika
BRONZE Ryan Burt

2nd September - UK School Games

Ryan was selected to represent England at this event. Despite not taking a medal, Ryan enjoyed the experience. 

10th September - Bredene Tournament, Belgium

SILVER Luke davies
SILVER Peter Davies
BRONZE Ellis Davies

17th September - Metro Mini-Mon, London

GOLD Maya Aubert-Gomez
GOLD Mehdi Rabia
SILVER Peter Davies
SILVER Peter Palotas
BRONZE Chloé Page
BRONZE Ellis Davies
BRONZE Aniss Rabia

25th September - Devizes Annual Tournament, Devizes, Wiltshire

GOLD Luke Davies
GOLD Lovepreet Singh
GOLD GiovannyAntalika
SILVER Jaap Kaur
SILVER Mounir Baaziz
SILVER Sammie Grant
BRONZE Connor Gossedge
BRONZE Ryan Burt

Adam was unplaced. 

1st October - Lincent Friendly, Liege, Belgium

Above: some of our younger ones with their medals, Aniss & Mehdi's mum, Lamia and coach Jo.

GOLD Jaap Kaur
GOLD Aniss Rabia
GOLD Peter Davies
GOLD Luke Davies
SILVER Mehdi Rabia
SILVER Maddy Birri
SILVER Dlair Singh
BRONZE Ellis Davies
BRONZE Blake Inniss

This was a very special day for Blake, as it was his first competitive experience for almost 3 years, following his recovery from a serious knee injury in January 2014. Blake has worked tirelessly to get back to walking, then gym work and now Judo. We are extremely proud of his determination and courage. 

1st October - High Wycombe Kyu Grade Cup, Buckinghamshire

GOLD Sofia Zhukova
GOLD Mantas Grinaveckis
BRONZE Karl-Kareem Melaini

Pierre also competed, but withdrew to treat a minor injury. 

Mantas went on to compete in a Dan grading and won his final 30 points, leaving only his theory to be passed for him to earn his black belt. 

2nd October - Olympia Brugge Tournoi, Brugge, Belgium

We have had a fantastic weekend touring Belgium, with a double-header of competitions and the lovely team dinner in between, pictured above. The children have picked up so much experience and have really enjoyed themselves too. 

GOLD Jaap Kaur
GOLD Peter Davies
GOLD Maddy Birri
GOLD Luke Davies
GOLD Aniss Rabia
SILVER Mehdi Rabia
SILVER Dlair Singh
BRONZE Ellis Davies

8th October - British Masters Championships, Edinburgh, Scotland

GOLD Sammie Grant
BRONZE Giovanny Antalika

9th October - British Under 12 Championships, Edinburgh, Scotland

We had the most amazing day at Meadowbank, with 7 of the Tiny Mighties competing in this well-entered and high quality national event. Of the 7, just 3 had competed in this event the year before and all hoped their game. 

Luke Davies and Mounir Baaziz fought at -38kg, each having 7 tough contests. Luke won gold and Mounir won bronze. Maddy also became British Champion, with silver in her group going to team-mate Valentine Bachelez. Maddy placed 5th last year so her year of strong training and regular competition stood her in good stead. Dlair and Tyler each won bronze medals in their respective groups. Little Peter Davies placed 7th in a massive group, displaying some excellent, gutsy Judo. What an outstanding team! 

22nd & 23rd October - Southend International, Southend, Essex

Above: Dlair, Jaap, Peter and Luke with their medals.

Over the two days the team put in some fantastic performances, against opposition from Holland, Sweden and other European nations. The event ran smoothly and the players particularly liked the bespoke medals!

GOLD Mario Kovac
GOLD Natasha Glassford
GOLD Sammie Grant (Masters)
GOLD Luke Davies
GOLD Silviu Nastasa (Masters Novice to blue belt)
GOLD Giovanny Antalika
SILVER Jess Gordon-Brown
SILVER Sammie Grant (Seniors)
SILVER Lovepreet Singh
SILVER Dlair Singh
SILVER Ryan Burt
SILVER Silviu Nastasa (Masters High Grades)
BRONZE Mantas Grinaveckis
BRONZE Maya Aubert-Gomez
BRONZE Peter Davies
BRONZE Jaap Kaur
BRONZE Antonio Greco

Adam Burt, Connor Gossedge, Rhys Connor, Chloé Page, Peter Palotas and Blake Inniss all fought without podium finishes.

Below: Silviu (first ever Judo competition), Giovanny and Antonio (first Judo competition since move to the UK) with their medals. 

29th October - Portuguese National Championships Qualifier, Lisbon, Portugal

Vladimir Oleinic flew out to compete and won all 4 contests to take the gold medal. We congratulate Vlad on his qualification for the nationals, later in the year. 

30th October - Welsh Open, Newport, Wales

SILVER Sammie Grant (Masters)
BRONZE Sammie Grant (Seniors)
BRONZE Showgo Kimura
BRONZE Ryan Burt
5th place Lovepreet Singh

Natasha Glassford did not finish with a placing today. Showgo and Ryan each completed the points requirement for their 2nd Dan promotion too. 

6th November - Samurai Pre-Cadet & Cadet Open, Walsall

There were gold medals today for Sofija and Tohgo, with Sofija offering some particularly dominant Judo. Adam Burt won bronze, while Connor, Rhys and Francesca missed out this time. 

26th November - Gent Open, Belgium

GOLD Connor Gossedge
GOLD Ivaylo Simeonov
GOLD Ryan Burt
GOLD Jess Gordon-Brown
GOLD Natasha Glassford
GOLD Sammie Grant
5th place Adam Burt

tne team was so strong today and with all this golds we won the 'Best Club' trophy for the senior division. Great work from the Mighties! 

27th November - Goole Christmas Championships (yes, in November)

GOLD Maddy Birri
GOLD Poppy Love
GOLD Mounir Baaziz
GOLD Luke Davies
GOLD Lovepreet Singh
GOLD Sammie Grant
GOLD Scott Turner
SILVER Francesca Birri
BRONZE Maya Aubert-Gomez
BRONZE Peter Davies
BRONZE Salah Rabia

3rd & 4th December - British Pre-Cadet & Cadet Championships, Sheffield

We had a challenging weekend, not yielding the results we had hoped for.  There were, of course, lots of worthwhile contests and some great isolated performances, but not enough consistency to make it to the podium. Well done to Adam for his 7th place and Sofija for her 5th place. Connor, Tohgo and Francesca each fought with everything they had but without results. 

10-11th December - British Junior (-21) and Senior Championships

Above is a photo of our Junior team, competing on Saturday. It was a hard old slog but with some excellent performances. Showgo, unexpectedly, didn't make it to the final pool. Ryan and Ivaylo also went out, although we note Ivaylo's effort, competing in this age band for the first time, still being a young cadet. Blake was competing at his first Nationals for 3 years and he really gave it some welly. No medal, but it's amazing to see him back and winning fights at this level. 

Sofija was the stand-out player of our day, taking some quite incredible scalps, with a gutsy and unshakable approach to each and every contest. She came through three frighteningly  pools to win a quite unbelievable bronze medal. As a cadet and having not quite reached the podium at the cadet event last week, we knew the lack of pressure could play in her favour and it absolutely did. Way to go Sofija. 

Above: Showgo with his British Senior silver medal and Sofija with her British -21 bronze medal.