Warwick Judo grab medal haul in Hereford

On Sunday the 21st of November 2010, a squad of eight highly motivated Judo players from Warwick Judo Club travelled to Hereford to fight in the BJC National Championships. These national championships, a key event on the yearly competition calendar, have seen Warwick consistently perform strongly returning with medals for each of the last 5 years. This year the championship attracted over 150 entries, this record number of entries, made up of some of the best Judo players from around the country, meant the competition squad had its work cut out to repeat the success of previous years.

This year Warwick’s competition squad was bolstered by some new members, including the soon crowned -100kg Kyu grade National Champion David Ooi. David’s journey to the title of national champion was an arduous one forced to fight out of his normal category against significantly heavier opponents, David faced a gruelling selection of contests en route to the title. David was, however, un-phased by the significant height and weight disadvantage and convincingly dismissed his opponents, winning 50% of his victories through his opponents signalling their submission.

Continuing in a distinguished line of French Judo players competing for Warwick, Antoine Rémond-Tiedrez, took to the mat to do battle in the -73kg Kyu grades – non black belts. In one of the first of the tough draws Warwick fighters were to experience on the day, Antoine first fight was against the category’s eventual winner. Despite a close fought fight in which neither contestant were able to gain the upper hand Antoine eventually lost on a judge’s decision. After this disappointing failure to finish his previous opponent Antoine stepped up the pace and proceed to romp through the rest of the division. He defeated his next opponent by Ippon – maximum score. Before moving on, with growing confidence, Antoine demolished his subsequent opponents with a wide range spectacular techniques Antoine eventually left the mat well deserved bronze medal.

On the other side of the category was Warwick’s Russian secret weapon Nikita Ushakov. Nikita is well known in the club and on the university Judo circuit for his formidable ground work technique. Nikita continued to leave an indelible mark on all those who watched him compete as he finished each and every opponent with a straight armlock technique, the signature move of club patron and world champion Neil Adams, forcing them all to signal their submission using an expression of combat known world wide, the tap out. In the final Nikita encountered an opponent who refused to engage him on the ground, repeatedly disengaging and forcing the contest back to the standing phase, however, Nikita continued to attack and thwart his opponent’s techniques whilst hunting for the arm. He was, however, unable to take the contest to his favoured phase of combat, on the mat, and finish the fight and as a result narrowly lost, finishing up with the silver medal.

Club Vice president Samuel Harris, was next to step up to the plate, competing in the -73kg Dan grade (black belt) category. Sam started in typically fine form and won his first fight with a textbook example of ground work technique. However, having only been recently promoted to black belt and facing opponents who were significantly more experienced and higher graded, Sam struggled to apply his usual stylish Judo and unfortunately finished just out of the medal contention.

Meanwhile Thomas Grandjean, long time club member and Senior coach of Warwick Judo club, was engaged in a fearsome struggle on the adjacent mat. Tom’s first opponent was one of the tournament’s favourites and eventual gold medal winner and despite asking serious questions of his strong opponent Tom eventually succumbed to a groundwork technique. Spurred on to assert his dominance of the category after his close defeat in the first round Tom utterly overwhelmed his next opponent who was totally helpless as Tom ended his opponent’s competition with a stunning 6 second victory by Ippon, maximum score. After producing one the quickest and most decisive victories of the entire tournament Tom progressed to the following rounds. Here he continued to showcase his prowess at throwing techniques slamming his opponent into the mat with a ceiling scraping pick up technique, which was controversially ruled out of bounds, Tom immediately followed this with a leg reap technique which buried his opponent into the mat, undisputedly ending the bout. Due to the peculiarities of Judo contest draws and the narrow loss of his initial match Tom was only able to continue on to achieve a bronze medal.

At the other end of the venue, Judo club President Sophie Cox was rounding off the day. Sophie who had achieved multiple national championship titles at Kyu grade- non black belt level – now entered her first national level tournament as a black belt. Despite her significant success at non black belt level Sophie quickly discovered the transition to black belt meant a significant increase in quality and fierceness of competition. Sophie, however, continued to demonstrate the skill and contest acumen, which has seen her perform with such success at a Kyu grade national level, overcoming stiff opposition to secure the silver medal in the -57kg Dan grade group.

Congratulations to all those who competed and an especial mention to Adam Michaelis and Zal Udwadia, who were unfortunate not to enjoy the success of the medallists – David Ooi, Sophie Cox, Tom Grandjean, Sam Harris, Antione Rémond-Tiedrez and Nikita Ushakov.

The club looks forward to even greater success at upcoming tournaments and to hosting the annual Warwick University invitational competition in February, the third largest University Judo competition in the country.