On the last Saturday in November members of the Cambridge University Judo Club (CUJC) were heading down to London to take part in the 1st London Universities Senior Invitation Championships. The competition was well attended and of high standard with teams from across the entire UK including Bath and Oxford University.

Left to right: Lisa, Jessica, Kane, Alec, Philipp, Rob and Tobias.

Jessica Alsiö was the lightest women of all the Kyu grades and was subsequently grouped together with two other players of higher weight categories. However, Jess showed some very good judo winning her first fight by strangling her opponent. In the second fight against an opponent nearly 10 kilos heavier than her she was eventually caught with a throw. This left Jessica with a silver medal of the combined weight categories.

Robert Blackburn put up a strong fight against a higher graded player earning himself a silver medal. Because of their small pool Rob was also allowed to participate in the weight category above leaving him with some valuable practice and experience in his second competition since he joined CUJC.

Lisa Kleiminger fought for the first time in the 1st Kyu/Dan grade category. Despite showing good resistance against a more experienced player she eventually lost her first fight. After a strong comeback in her subsequent fight she managed to pass through to the semi‐finals. Unfortunately, she was beaten by the player who was going to win the overall weight category leaving her with a bronze medal.

Tobias Schmidutz was faced with the largest category. Unfortunately, he lost his first fight, but he managed to keep his focus and won his next fight. In a good third match, where none of the two fighters was dominating, Tobias narrowly lost, missing out on the medal ranks.

Philipp Oberhumer and Kane Chandler both fought in the same weight category. Philipp passed through to the finals with flying colours showing some huge throws on his way. Kane also dominated his opponents marching through to the finals despite having to fight his semi‐final twice. His opponent did not accept his defeat in the first instance, started arguing with the referees and refused to leave the mat. Kane, showing more character than the other judoka, agreed to a re‐match, which he won again. The following all‐Cambridge final was bound to be interesting as both players knew each other’s strength and weaknesses from training leaving the spectators to watch a nail‐biting fight. A few seconds before the end Phillip managed to secure a hold‐down winning the match and leaving Kane with a well deserved second place.

Despite only having entered six players Cambridge University was the 3rd most successful University at these championships clearly showing some great potential for next year’s BUCS and Varsity.

Thanks to Alec Edwards and his coaching team in preparing us for this term’s competitions and supporting us on the day.

– Lisa Kleiminger, Women’s Captain