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.
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