Graz International, Austria

Last weekend I went to Austria for the Graz International.  A big event and it had 1400 fighters from 21 countries. Again I fought in two weight groups.  Under 17 -50kg and Under 20 -55kg.

Under 17 Section

Tomer Kimchi (Israel) First Fight

Won with Ippon

Artem Lesyuk (Ukraine) Second Fight

Lost by Yuko

Samual Waizenegger (Switzerland) Third Fight

Won by Ipppon

Tim Schwab (Germany) Fourth Fight

Lost by hold down

I was not pleased with the way I fought especially in my last fight.  The fight against the Ukrainian lad was very close.

Under 20 Section

There were only seven in this weight group and I was the luck one to get a bye

Lorenz Wildner (Austria) First Fight

Lost by Ippon

Csaba Biro (Romania) Bronze Fight

Won By Ippon
I was please with the way I dominated this tall Romanian and winning another medal in Austria.

Kent International

On the 24th June I fought in the Kent International at Crystal Palace.  I was entered in the Blue/Brown belt section at -50kg

Section C -16       Results

Sasha Aguerreberry (Ealing) First Fight

I had not fought Sasha before but started the competition well throwing him for ippon with drop sode.

Joshua O'Connor (Gendros) Second Fight

Josh is a very good fighter who is moving up from Prre-Cadet this year.  I expect to have many good fights with him over the next year. I Threw Josh for Wazari and ippon which was a pleasing result.

Adam Bolwell (Bath) Semi-Final

Another player I had not fought before.  I controlled the fight well winning with a yuko and a wazari.

Sebastian Van Dongen (Netherlands) Final

Sebastian had earlier defeated Koen Van Zeul from The Netherlands so I expected a tough fight.  After about one minute I threw Sebastian for ippon

On the Sunday I had entered the Junior section (under 20) at -50 but there were only two of us in the weight group and the other lad had pulled out injured after fighting on the Saturday.  I was allowed to compete in the -55kg.

Youth Section -20      Results

Tyrell Clarke-Harewood (Moberly) First Fight

I had a bye in the first round before fighting Tyrell.  Tyrell had won the Bronze medal at last years Junior British Championships.  I had to put in lots of attacks and felt on top for most of the first minute.  I did some good transition  into an armlock and won the fight by ippon

James Stringer (Tonbridge) Semi Final

I was buzzing after beating Tyrell and fought my best fight of the weekend beating James with a Yuko, Wazari and an Ippon.

Isaac Gagin (Red Phoenix) Final

Isaac's long legs and o-uchi gari were to much of a problem and he threw me for Wazari before holding me down

This was my best domestic result to date.  To get a medal in the -55 at Juniors when still only -50 was brilliant. To beat the fighters I did was even better.

Venray International, The Netherlands

I have been competing in the Venray International for the last seven year and it is still one of the better competitions in Western Europe.  I was not able to fight last year because I broke my wrist at the London International.  This year I was fighting in the -17 under 50kg section. There were only 11 in my group which was the smallest group I had ever been in at Venray. Last year there were 22 in the same group and out of the eleven this year more than half were from Great Britain.  Despite the small numbers the group had the Bronze Medalist from the recent Russian Judo Championships Nikita Deulin.  It also had Kieran Davin and Peter Miles competing. I don't know who thought it would be funny to put both Russian fighters in the top half along with me, Kieran and Peter.  This draw meant that my first fight would be against the top Russian :(

Nikita Deulin (Russia) First Fight

Nikita was a really strong fighter but I started well getting in a few attacks.  Nikita took control of the fight before throwing me for a yuko and then ippon.  Nikita went on to beat Peter Miles in the next fight and was the eventual gold medalist.

Brayden Quinn (England) Second Fight

I had never fought Brayden in competition before but we have trained together at England Squad sessions. I threw Brayden for Yuko with a new technique I had been working on.

Kieran Davin (Great Britain) Third Fight

The last three times we had fought neither of us has managed any throws with Kieran winning all three on flags.  This time I fought well beating Kieran by a yuko

Dominic Reilly (Scotland) Bronze Fight

I was fighting well by now and was able to control the fight at my pace.  Late on in the fight Mr. Fallons turnover worked well and I held Dominic down for Ippon.

 

Results 2012

This was my fourth medal at this competition (1 x Gold, 1 x Silver and 2 x Bronze)