Warwick Judo grapples to victory

The end of One World Week saw the largest event of the Warwick University Judo Calendar, when the club held its annual competition on Saturday 5th February.

The event was a resounding success: Bristol, York and Sheffield were just some of the many universities represented, joining a 25-strong team from Warwick to make up a total entry of over 120 people.

Considered one of the best competitions in the Midlands area, the event consists of both team and individual categories and is divided into novices (green belt and below) and advanced (blue belt and above).

The day was divided into two main events, with the men and women’s team competitions taking place in the morning and the individual competitions taking place in the afternoon.

Overall Warwick enjoyed great success across the board, from the beginners section to the most experienced Black Belts. The combined effort of the teams resulted in Warwick University taking home the coveted trophy after a very close battle with last year’s winners, Samurai Judo Club.

A number of individuals had excellent performances on Saturday, most notably Jack Griffiths who, whilst being new to Judo this year, won all of his fights in the novice under 73kg category.

He took home a Gold medal for his individual performances, and also was awarded the Hosaka’s Ippon Judo Trophy, introduced as a prize this year to be presented to the individual displaying the most traditional Japanese style Judo throughout the day.

In the women’s categories, President Sophie Cox took home a gold medal for her individual performance, whilst also securing a silver medal in the team competition. Sapphire Samiullah and Margherita Harris also competed for Warwick, winning the silver for the novice team competition and both attaining bronze medals for their efforts in the individual categories.

The men’s senior team, consisting of Rustam Sethna, Sam Harris, Tom Grandjean, Joe Rattenbury and David Ooi, soundly beat Bristol and Oxford on their quest to bronze.

The men’s novice team (David Fillary, Pavlos Leventis, Jack Griffiths, Callum Davis and Robbie Ripamonti) quickly followed suit, earning another bronze for Warwick, despite it being the first Judo competition any of the competitors entered.

The Warwick B team (Zal Udwadia, Pete Wing, Antoine Rémond-Tiedrez, Simon Impey and Phil Hartley) fought hard but did not reach a medal position.

The men enjoyed more success in the individual tournament, with Robbie and Phil dominating the +90kg category, taking home bronze and silver respectively. Adam Michaelis proved training regularly pays dividends, finishing the day with a bronze medal.

Meanwhile Antoine Rémond-Tiedrez and Joe Rattenbury displayed some stylish judo, both achieving silver medals in their respective weight groups.

This event kicked off a busy term of competitions for the Warwick squad, who will be competing in London and Sheffield in the following weeks at two of the other major events on the university judo circuit. Sheffield is of particular importance as the team has last year’s silver medal to defend.

Rounding off the term is also the most prestigious event of the year, the BUCS Judo Championships, to be held on the 19th March.

The Warwick Competition has given many new beginners a great confidence boost, demonstrating that the skills they have learnt this year really are effective. All the Warwick judoka should be proud of their performances – they are sure to display the tournament shield with pride.

Special mention goes to Vice President Sam Harris who has spent this year arranging the competition and coordinating the various organisations required to run an event of this size.

The University of Warwick Judo Club would like to thank the British Judo Association, Warwick Sport and Teach First for their sponsorship of the event and also Joyce Heron, Fitzroy Davis and Dave Nicholls, some of the biggest names in judo, for presenting the medals.