Warwick student wins bronze in judo grand prix

A student from the University of Warwick has won bronze at a judo grand prix in Tbilisi, Georgia. The competition took place on 30 March, and marked the first time that Lulu Piovesana, a first-year Politics student from Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, was able to participate in a competition since October after tearing a ligament in her ankle whilst training.

In an interview with The Boar, Lulu stated that: “I was so happy when I got bronze in the grand prix. I haven’t competed in six months due to an injury, so I wasn’t expecting much.”

Lulu started practising judo when she was five, and credits her father, who has a black belt in the martial art, for inspiring her passion, revealing that he used to coach her. In fact, Lulu comes from a family of judo experts; her grandfather was the coach of an old Birmingham club, and her uncles and aunts also practise.

She usually trains three times a day, every day, and often attends training camps in a variety of places, including Paris and Tokyo. She said that she prepared extensively for the grand prix because she “needed to be stronger than ever for the competition.”

She usually trains three times a day, every day, and often attends training camps in a variety of places, including Paris and Tokyo

Training involves technical session on most days, as well as conditioning and weights every day. However, she stated: “Our main training is sparing which in judo is called ‘randori’ where you fight your partners, we travel all round the world fighting different people on training camps because each country has different styles of judo.”

She admits that fitting in such intense training around her university work can be “stressful sometimes”, but stated her studies are equally as important to her, commenting: “education is also important to me, so I put the time in as well.”

She emphasised: “Doing both is really difficult, I study politics which is really full on. But my mum always made sure I put education first. Some days I would rather be training instead of doing the work but after my judo career is finished I would like a good job.”

This is not Lulu’s first judo achievement, last October she won bronze at the Junior World Championships and she is hoping for more success soon when she participates in Russia for a European Cup and then in another grand prix in China, where Olympic qualifications start. However, she revealed that her ultimate goal is to be: “World and Olympic Champion 2020 or 2024 maybe even 2028.”