February 5th 2022
SR Judo Club landed a haul of medals at the Leicester Open Tournament held in the county last weekend. The club, based in Swannington was represented by 20 judoka, who returned home with 14 medals between them. In the primary class (under 10 years old), Harrison Woods was first to step onto the mat in the boys U20kg and came away with a bronze medal. Next up was Jenson Crutchley and he showed some great judo to take a gold medal in the U23kg. Stanley Wright and Adam Mawdsley were both unfortunate to miss out on a medal in the U26kg despite some great efforts. Two members of SR competed in the U30s, with George Wright just missing out on a bronze medal and Harry Waterfield showed some great determination to take a silver. An outstanding performance by Riley Russell saw him defeat all four of his opponents by Ippon to snatch the gold in the U35kg and in the O38kg, Max Newton put in a great display to earn himself a a bronze medal.
In the primary girls, three club members all fought in the U34kg with Darcy Chamberlain and Phoebe Waterfield battling to bronze and silver medals respectively and Millie Shaw just missing out on a bronze medal. SR clubmates also met in the U45kg as Phoebe Napier and Autumn-Rose McIlwraith both competed and returned with bronze and silver respectively. In the juniors, Curtis Thompson jumped up a weight category to the U40kg come home with a bronze against some experienced competitors. In the U50kg, Noah Chamberlain was unlucky against strong opposition to miss out on a medal and Jack Cross put in a superb display to take a bronze in the U70kg.
SR’s trio of junior girls all placed in their weight categories - Eliza Seditas returned with a bronze in the U40kg whilst Ruby Gimson picked up a tricky silver medal in the U60kg and Poppy Murphy won a well earned gold in the O60kg.
In his first ever senior contest, also his first competitive event for several years, Oliver Hollis beat some tough opposition to come back with a bronze medal, narrowly missing out on second place to a referee’s decision in the U65kgs.
Head coach, Lea Barkby said of the achievement ‘I’m so proud of everyone that fought today. It was a very tough event with some top fighters there and every one of our players tried their hardest and put in great performances.’