Medals From Across The Sea

Kendal Judo Club members travel far and wide for their competitions but their visit to Canada was perhaps their longest journey recently. However it was not in vain as between the four - Danny Harper, Michael Horley, Danny Carr and David Groom -- they brought back six medals from two championships.

The first was the Quebec Open with Michael Horley setting the pace, but his first contest almost ended in the first half minute when he was very nearly thrown. Recovering quickly he beat his Ukranian opponent with eri seoi nage for ippon. Another two wins - Kesa Gatame for ippon and two yukos and a waza ari score in the semi-final against an American and another Ukranian saw Michael through to the final against the Canadian No.1 (Cavalli) at Under 90 kilos. Although the Kendal player managed to keep his opponent at bay for four minutes he finally succumbed to a maki-komi throw and the silver medal.

Danny Harper was also up against Ukranians in the early rounds using one of his favourite throws, Kata Guruma to dispose of them. Another Ippon with a running leg grab - a technique which the IJF want to ban - saw Danny through to the semi-final where, distracted by a disputed score from the referee, he was thrown for ippon. In his repechage fight against Canadian Oliver Aubin Mercier Danny changed his usual tactics and strangled his opponent into a submission and gained the bronze medal.

In the Under 66 kilo weight Danny Carr swept through to the final, his five opponents to the final staying upright for a total of just under three minutes. In the final he came up against one of the top Brazilian fighters, Charles Chibana who caught him with an unstoppable throw giving Danny the silver medal.

David Groom had some hard contests in the run to his bronze medal. Two of them went to Golden Score, wins. He was finally caught by the eventual Gold Medallist in the quarter finals. In the repechage David gave his Canadian opponent (Didier Lemair) no chance of winning and threw him halfway through the fight for his bronze medal.

In the Canadian Open Danny Harper had the misfortune to be drawn against the American No. 2 who went on to win the Gold medal having thrown Danny for a minor score in the Golden Score period. In the repechage Danny found himself fighting his opponents from the Quebec Open including the Brazilian who beat him. There were no distractions this time and the Kendal player went on to win the Bronze.

Michael Horley twice had to fight back from being well behind against Ukranian opposition but then came up against a former Youth OLympic Champion in the quarter-final. Michael lost on a waza-ari score but bounced back in the last thirty seconds of his last fight to beat his Canadian opponent with a sweeping hip throw and win a bronze medal.