British Championships 2012

This year should have been my last as a cadet and this Championships should have been for 97/98 fighters.  Due to the change in cadet ages in Europe the BJA left this years competition at the same age band as last year 96/97. They have also changed next years Championships to 96/97/98.  This was my last competition at -50 and I am going to move up to -55 after this competition. I came into the competition hoping to win my third British Championships in a row.

Elliot Gladwin (Alpha) First Fight

I had never fought Elliot before but started the event well and won with a strangle after about 30 seconds.

Jack Murphy (Pro Judo) Semi Final

I have fought Jack many times and controlled the grips well before winning with a sangaku strangle.

Dominic Reilly (Sportif) Final

Dominic is tough but I was still fresh and fighting well. I jumped in on Dominics first attack and won in 22 seconds with a strangle.

Winning all my fights with strangles was very pleasing but most of all it was winning my third Championships in a row.  As a bonus I picked up my first 10 points towards my Dan Grade. Next years British Championships has been brought forward to January and with me just moving up to -55 this will be a hard challenge......but I like hard challenges !!!!

2012 Results

Focused or what

The moment before victory

The moment of victory

British Champion 2012

Medals with Winnie G

High Peak Sports Awards

I was again invited to attend the 2012 High Peak Sports Awards which were held in the Pavillion Gardens, Buxton. It was a night where the High Peak celebrated the 2012 Olympics and welcomed home some of its medalists. At the end of the night the High Peak Sports Awards were presented.  For the fourth time I won the Junior Sportsman of the Year Award and was presented with a nice trophy by our Paralympic Gold Medal cyclist. I will now hopefully get nominated to attend the Derbyshire Awards later this year.

Warsaw Open 2012

This year the Warsaw Open was again held in the massive Torwar sports hall.  There were 8 contest mats and a raised platform final mat.  There were nearly 1200 fighters from twenty countries and this is one of the strongest events of the year.  Only 3/4 of the Cadet European Cups are harder than this competition. Each mat also had a video care system for all ages u14/u16/u19 and two big screens kept all the fighters up to date with the running order.  There was also a live internet feed with updated results on their web site. After the competition there was also a three day training camp which was attended by more than 200 fighters.  In preparation for the British Championships I decided to fight up at -55kg ready for me moving up in November. There were 43 fighters in my group with many National Champions making it a very difficult group.

Martynas Kvedaras (Lithuania) First Fight

This was a tough start to the competition as I knew Martynas was a good fighter.  I was happy to start the competition well winning with 2 wazaris.

Patryk Kastner (Poland) Second Fight

My second fight was against a Polish fighter.  It was a tough contest which I won with a yuko.

Alexey Gruntov (Russia) Third Fight

Alexey had finished third in this years Russian National Championships.  It was a tough fight and I got thrown for ippon.  I needed Alexey to reach the Semi-Finals for me to get pulled back in. Alexey won his next two fights and also went on to win the weight group without really being challenged.

Me with Alexey at the training camp.  I fought him six times at the camp and did manage to throw him quite a few times. Alexey finished fifth at this years Cadet European Cup in Tver so I was pleased how the fights went.

Matej Vidmar (Slovenia) Fourth Fight

This was going to be a really hard fight.  Matej is the Slovenian National Champion and he had also won the Warsaw Open the previous year.  He is a big fighter but half way through the fight I threw him for ippon with a technique I picked up at the Zantaraia camp a few weeks ago.

Adam Kovacs (Hungary) Fifth Fight

I was fighting well and threw Adam for Ippon after about 90 seconds.

Ruslans Soha (Latvia) Sixth Fight

Ruslans is a strong fighter and the current Latvian Champion.  It was a close fight all the way through and I got caught late on in the fight.  This was a fight I should have won but was pleased with the way I had performed in the 55's at such a tough event.

I had some great fights in the training camp with all the Russian lads and look forward to coming again next year.

2012 Results