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.
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