February 18-19th, Walsall Sports Centre
Individual competition
Individuals:
Showgo Kimura (M U66 Dan grade), Julio Bernucci-Amador (M U66 1st Kyu), Noam Ezra (M U73 1st Kyu), Julian Homann (M U100 1st Kyu), Jozsef Zoltan Terjek (M U100 1st Kyu), Fiona Gibbs (F U63 2nd Kyu), Cassia Taylor (F U57 1st Kyu), Sarah Spencer (F U63 1st Kyu), Roksana Dutkiewitz (F U63 1st Dan)
9 athletes travelled to BUCS along with 3 of our extremely supportive coaches. Everyone made weight which was the first success of the weekend! On Saturday we started the day with a great team warm up which got everyone in the mood to fight well. Roksana Dutkiewitz acheived two consecutive and decisive wins, but this was followed by a loss in a close-fought and long match. Another tough fight in the repechage meant no bronze medal, but a hard-earned fifth place in the largest female weight category of the day. Cassia Taylor, in U57 Dan grade category, unfortunately landed heavily after a big throw from her 2nd Dan opponent in the first fight, injuring her shoulder and leading to withdrawal from the competition.
Fiona Gibbs put in an outstanding performance in the 2nd Kyu and below U63kg category, winning 3 fights by ippon, all in a grand total of 34 seconds, securing a gold medal for Cambridge – well done!
Showgo and Julio both competed in the U66 Dan grade category. Julio lost to an Oxford rival in the opening round, but won in the repechage. Unfortunately this meant proceeding to a Cambridge v Cambridge match, and he was knocked out by Showgo. Showgo had unfortunately lost his first fight by a very rapid strangle which almost rendered him unconscious. Luckily, he was passed by the medical team to continue, and after beating Julio, went on to win his subsequent 2 fights to take the bronze medal.
Noam Ezra lost his first fight but won in the repechage. A further loss meant he narrowly missed out on the opportunity to fight for bronze.
Julian Homann and Jozsef Zoltan Terjek both competed in the U100 Dan grade category, finishing first and second respectively in their pools of three. This meant another Cambridge v Cambridge match with a win for Julian, and a bronze for Jozsef. A tense final against Oxford resulted in silver for Julian.
BUCS Team event
Men’s Team:
Julio Bernucci-Amador (U66), Showgo Kimura (U90), Noam Ezra (U90), Julian Homann (O90)
Due to an unfortunate distribution of weight categories among our male players, we were only able to front a partial, 4 man team instead of the full 5 players. However, this didn’t deter Cambridge, who put in a strong performance, easily seeing off Birmingham, Middlesex and Edinburgh to finish second in their pool of 5. Unfortunately this meant a semi-final against near-professional athletes from Bath University, who pipped them to the final, leaving Cambridge with a well-earned Bronze medal.
Women’s Team:
Fiona Gibb (light), Sarah Spencer (middle), Roksana Dutkiewtiz (heavy)
Our women’s team started at a disadvantage having lost our captain to injury the day before, although Fiona stepped up to the plate to fill in as reserve. We were a lightweight team compared to many others, but strong performances from all three players led to wins against Oxford (a positive sign of things to come at Varsity), and Durham. We narrowly missed out on wins against Glasgow and Edinburgh, leaving us third in the pool and not making it through to the semis. However, CUJC were very proud of the effort and judo spirit shown by the women’s team, and in fact by every player competing this weekend.
