Glasgow European Open

Today I received my first senior Great Britain selection when I was selected for the Glasgow European Open to be held on the 10th October. It will be tough but good prep for the Junior Worlds two weeks later.

Junior World Championships

It has been a long hard last few months but all the hard work has paid off with confirmation that I have been selected to be part of the team at this years Junior World Championships which will be held in Abu Dhabi next Month.

New Sponsor - PHP

Peter Hattersley & Partners have agreed to become one of my new sponsors. They are an Insurance Broker firm based in Manchester and their support will enable me to self-fund events in 2016 and help me continue as a full time Judoka.

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Junior European Cup, Romania

I was selected as part of the GB team selected for next months European Championships.

This was my fourth event at -73kg and all of them have been European Cups so its been a really hard start in the weight group.

Sabin Marin (Romania) First Round

Nice first fight winning with an ippon.

Denizhan Caliskan (Turkey) Second Round

Second fight against a tough Turkish fighter winning with another Ippon.

Arttu Maatta (Finland) Third Round

Arttu had beat me two weeks earlier in Berlin. This was a much better fight. I was losing by a yuko until the very last seconds before throwing for my third Ippon of the day.

Elemer Szocs (Romania) Semi-Final

Elemer was seeded number one and is ranked number nine in the 73's. I was far to cautious in the first half of the fight picking up three penalties. I controlled the fight for the last two minutes but lost 3-2 on penalties.

Aku Laakkonen (Finland) Bronze Fight

It was a tough bronze fight which I won by a Yuko winning my fourth Junior European Cup medal of the year.

Ippon.Org Results

Junior European Championship Selection

After a good six months It was great to be selected for the Junior European Championship in Austria next month. Got a few weeks of hard training and the European Cup in Romania before the event.

Junior European Cup, Berlin

Berlin is one of the hardest events on the Junior circuit but is a great event and a solid camp.

Frantisek Smehlik (Czech Republic) First Round
Started well winning with a Yuko and an Ippon

Heoncheol Kang (South Korea) Second Round
The Korean had won this event last year and it was a tough fight and lost by Ippon.

Apolon Zurabiani (Georgia) Repecharge
Good win with an armlock

Arttu Maata (Finland) Repecharge
Couldn't control the grips and lost by Wazari

Finished 9th but thought I could have gone a bit further.

Junior European Cup, Poland

Following on only a week after Hungary was the Junior European Cup in Wroclaw, Poland. There were 55 fighters in the -73ks weight group and this is one of the tougher events of the year. I felt much batter having fought in Hungary the week before.

Herman Hermansen (Norway) First Round

Started slowly again but got into the contest winning with a Wazarai.

Motiejus Calka (Lithuania) Second Round

Motiejus won the Lithuania Nationals in 2015 and I expected a tough fight. I was pleased to with with two Yukos to get through to the next round.

Lucas Otmane (France) Third Round

Lucas was the number three seed and 2014 French National Champion as well as Bronze medalist in 2015. He also won the Silver Medal at the Athens European Cup this year. I didn't expect much but found some good Judo winning with a Yuko and a Wazari. This was a great win for me.

Matthias Casse (Belgium) Quarter Finals.

Matthias is a big strong fighter who moved down from -81 last year. At 73's he has won nearly everything since then. I was totally dominated losing with two yukos and an Ippon. Matthias went on to win the event.

Daniel Hosyanszki (Hungary) Fifth Fight-Repecharge

Daniel is 20 and the Hungarian National Champion. I was leading with a yuko before throwing him with a big ura-nage. This was another great win.

Colin McDonald (Great Britain) Sixth Fight

Won with Wazari.

Hamsat Isaev (Germany) Bronze Medal Fight

This was a great fight with Hamsat throwing me for Yuko. The score was downgraded from Ippon. I dug in and kept attacking right to the end throwing for Wazari right at the very end.

Winning the Bronze Medal at only my second event at -73's was a great result and I am looking forward to Berlin in a couple of weeks.

Ippon.Org Results

Junior European Cup, Paks, Hungary

This was my first European Cup at my new weight of -73kg. There were 56 fighters in my group. Moving up to 73's will mean bigger groups and new challenges.

Hannes Kletzenbauer (Austria) First Fight

It was a slow start and I was very cautious but felt in control and won with two shidos.

Gabor Sarhegyi (Hungary) Second Fight

It was a close fight and I was unlucky to have a good score wiped off. Got caught in the last few seconds.

It was a reasonable start to the 73's. Next week I will fight in the much harder Poland Junior Cup.

Ippon.Org Results

Sportif International, Scotland

I decided to have a go up at -73's for this event. After the competition was a two day training camp.

First Round Bye

Harry Mustard (Sportif) First Fight
Won with Ippon

Liam Mathew (Danderhall) Second Fight
Threw for Ippon with a big Ippon Seoi-Nage

Daniel Pacitti (Jidel) Final
Threw for Yuko then held Daniel for Ippon

Junior European Cup, Italy

Traveled over to Lignano, Italy for the second junior European Cup of the year. I was in good form from portugal but it was a hard event with may top fighters taking part. I was seeded two for the event.

First Round Bye.

Gabrielle Bossettini (Italy) Second Round

Won my first fight quickly with Ippon

Hidayat Heydarov (Azerbaijan) Third Round

Got caught for yuko and chased the fight as best as I could before getting arm-locked with 15 seconds to go. I will take some positives from how I fought Hidayat who is one of the best fighters around.

Lior Zvieli (Israel) Repecharge

Lior is a strong Israeli fighter who had trained with when I went over last year. Won with drop morote.

Filip Jovanovic (Serbia) Fourth Fight

Was fighting well still and won with Ippon in the first minute

Pawel Wawrzyczek (Poland) Fifth Fight

Pawel is 19 and has won many European Cup medals. It was a tough fight which I won by a yuko to get into the Bronze fight

Marco Papa (Switzerland) Bronze Fight

Marco is a good fighter who had beat me last year. He was having a great day beating top fighters. it was a close fight which I won by a penalty. We had both scored yuko.

Junior European Cup, Portugal

Traveled over to Coimbra, Portugal for the first Junior event of the year. I had a great event here last year winning the Bronze Medal. My ranking saw me seeded number one for this event but seeding makes no difference in European Cups as there are so many strong fighters out there.

First Round Bye

David Reis (Portugal) Second Round

David is the Portugese Junior Champion and their clear number one fighter. Although I beat him last year it wasn't the ideal first fight. Thankfully I started really strong throwing David for Ippon.

Jasmin Boisvert (Canada) Third Round

Jasmine was tall and awkward and it was a really hard fight. We were level with a yuko each going deep into golden score. Thanfully Jasmin got another penalty.

Roy Schipper (The Netherlands) Quarter Final

It was a really good fight with Roy and I was leading by a shido when I countered his throw and held him down. Really pleased with this win.

Daniel Powell (Great Britain) Semi-Final

Another close fight with dan which I won by a yuko.

Aiden Moffatt (Great Britain) Final

As expected it was a close fight with Aiden. Like the last fight I scraped home by a penalty.

It was a great start to the year and I hope to continue my good for into the next European Cup in Italy

Results

English Open, Sheffield

With only a week to go before the first European Cup of the year the English Open was a good last competition. I had won this event the year before and was looking for a good performance.

First Round Bye

Kieran Davin (Moberley) Second Round

Good transition saw me beat Kieran with my sangaku.

Leonardo Muniz (Tower Hamlets) Semi-Final

Another great battle with Leo going the distance. Won with a Yuko.

Danny Powell (Wolverhampton) Final

Was good to be in the final with Dan. I won with an arm-lock in the last minute.

Another Gold kept my good run going at Juniors. I was looking forward to fighting in the seniors but had to pull out after injuring my back in the fight against Leo.

RESULTS

The Parks Judo Club Weekend Camp with Craig Fallon

Travelled up to the North East with some of the younger players from the club. Had a great weekend and a few good scraps. Learnt so much off Craig who has a massive amount of knowledge and experience that could be passed on to us at the centre.

Stottish Open 2015

Juniors

Alexander Short (Edinburgh) First Fight

After a bye in the first round I had to fight Alex next. Controlled the gripping and won with Ippon

Kieran Davin (Moberley) Second Round

Kieran is awkward to fight but I got through the fight winning with wazari

Adam Khalik (Semi-Final)

Threw Adam for Ippon with Uchi-Mata.

Aiden Moffat (Tayside) Final

Aiden throws big and we had a great fight lasting seven minutes. It would have been great for it to go on until one of us scored. I think the referee got bored and was looking to dish out a penalty to end the fight. Thankfully it wasn't to me but it was a great fight.

I was really pleased to win the Gold after such a hard final. It was a tough section with quite a few good German and Belgium fighters in the group. All four medalists were from the Centre.

Seniors

I was knackered and could barely stand up and was really tempted to pull out of the seniors but the draw had been made and I was called out to fight really quickly.

Lucas Rowe (JHardy Spicer) First Fight

Despite being exhausted I started the seniors really well catching Lucas with a big Uchi-mata for Ippon

James Martin (Camberley) Second Fight

I had not fought James before and it was a good fight. My confidence was up after the fight with Lucas and I beat James with Ippon.

Russel Parker (The Army) Semi-Final

Russel has started training at the centre after a few years out of the sport. It was a good fight but Russel countered two very weak attacks to beat me with two wazaris.

Mike Demiddele (Belgium) Bronze Fight

Mike is a very experienced fighter with a good record on Judo Inside. Great win for Bronze choking Mike within a minute.

RESULTS

Rotterdam Training Camp

Traveled over to Budokan Rotterdam again for their annual training camp. Not quite up to it's usual standards having been cancelled last year. There were still over 500 fighters on the mat and plenty of hard randoris to end off a good year.

Tonbridge Training Camp

I missed the Tonbridge camp last year through injury and was glad to be able to go this year. There were many bodies on the mat and it was up to it's usual high standards.

British National Junior Championships 2014

Last event of the year was the 2014 British Championships. First official year as a Junior and fighting in the -66 weight group. I was in a group of 23 fighters which was packed with talent. Last years winner Tom Johnson was in it along with Leo Muniz and Danny Powell. Last years British Cadet Champion Andy Morris along with Ben Attwood and Adam Khalik would all make this one of the toughest groups of the day. Pool to pool system was being used as it is also the British trials so a very long day and lots of fights was on the cards.

Abdurrahman Chaatouf (Ernest Bevin) First Fight.

Abdurrahman wasn't seeded but certainly should have been. Not an ideal first fight and I struggled to get going. My timing was poor but my transition was good. I held Abdurrahman down for ippon to get a good first win on the board.

James Littler (Garioch) Second Fight.

James is a strong fighter and my timing was still off. Again my groundwork kicked in and I won with an ippon hold to move on to the next group.

Jack Barnes (Pyrford) Third Fight.

Had a couple of hours rest before the second pool and my judo was looking sharper. I won with two wazaris to take my third win of the day.

Adam Bolwell (Bath) Fourth Fight.

Controlled the fight well winning with a wazari and then a hold for my fourth win of the day.

There was a bit of a change to the next pools which came as a big surprise to many of us. Andy Morris had been injured in a battle with Leo. Although Andy had qualified from the pool in second place the third place fighter was promoted to the next round in his place. This changed the pools making a pool of death consisting of Ben Attwood, Leo Muniz, Danny Powell and myself. Only two of us could progress into the final pool and secure a place on the GB squad.

Leo De Moura Muniz (Tower Hamlets) Fifth Fight.

Leo is a talented fighter and we have had some good scraps. I needed my best judo which I found and won the fight by a Yuko. It was another great fight and brought me my fifth win of the day.

Danny Powell (Wolverhampton) Sixth Fight.

I was knackered and hardly had any rest before coming up against Danny. I was really fortunate to beat Danny at the Welsh a few weeks earlier and I knew he would be out for revenge. I have fought against Dan for about 12 years and he is one of the best fighters around. This fight was no different from the others. Dan attacks a lot more than I do and it is always a tactical waiting game rather than all out attacking. I was losing by a shido before I countered a weak attack for wazari and held him down to win the contest. Six wins out of six now.

Ben Attwood (Bradley Stoke) Seventh Fight

This is the first time I had fought Ben and I knew what to expect. I scored with a yuko to take the lead. Ben came at me for the remainder of the fight but I felt in control and took the win and my Seventh win out of seven.

Alec Ranford (Hardy Spicer) Eighth Fight

Alec had been pulled back in due to the Andy Morris injury but was fighting well having earlier beaten Leo. I felt in great form now and was really confident after my recent three wins. Controlled the grips before banging in uchi-mata for ippon. Eight wins out of eight.

Tom Johnson (Yoshin Ryu) Ninth Fight

In pool to pool the top two seeds are drawn to fight the very last fight and both myself and Tom had won all our fights up to this point. Winner of this fight would be 2014 British Champion. Tom had beaten me last year to take the 2013 title. I was so confident and felt really good. I followed up my first attack with some sharp transition and won with an armlock in 18 seconds to take the Gold Medal.

To win the title in a group like this is a result of a year of really hard training. My recent trip over to Israel gave me some good final prep for the event and finished off a great year for me. To go to both the Cadet and Junior European Championships was a massive bonus. next year I will start full time training at the centre and hope this will develop me further and have a good 2015. More foreign training is essential this coming year. I would like to thank everybody who has helped me in 2014. 

RESULTS