Dragons strike gold at the British Championships

 

What a weekend for the dragons as they took on the Countries best judoka at the 2024 British Championships in Warwick. 

Kin Ryu sent their biggest squad to date as 14 young athletes took to the mats over the weekend. On Saturday it was the turn of the cadet boys and pre cadet girls. Kin Ryu had a strong team in attendance with some previous medal winners as well as some new up and coming talent. 

The day started strongly with the team taking some early wins. Nikolaos Goudinakis u66kg, Vaidotas Pulokas u55kg, Ajin Rubakaran u60kg had some great contests but were unable to get to the medal rounds on this occasion. 

Sam Tang u60kg put in a superb perfomance but following a loss after a thrilling semi-final he fought for bronze and was succesful in gaining a place on the podium. 

George Armstrong u81kg also had some exciting matches, losing his 1st contest but winning all the rest to gain a place in the bronze medal fight. After a close contest he was victorious and won his 1st British Championship medal. 

Our last male cadet to compete was Peter Crawford in the u90kg category and Peter was on fire all day, winning all his contests to take gold and the title of British Champion 2024. 

In the pre cadet girls Kiera Dengate made her British Championship debut in the u44kg section. She fough hard getting to the bronze medal contest where she was unlucky not to finish with a medal on this occasion. Amy Watkin u40kg too had a superb start to her British Championships winning her first 2 contests then taking a loss in the semi-finals. After a close bronze medal fight she finished in 5th place. 

Our last fighter of the day was Sienna Robottom who was on fire from the start but suffered a knock in one of her contests which meant she has to withdraw from that fight, She soon picked herself up and finished strongly to win a bronze medal. 

 

On to day 2 and it was the turn of the cadet girls and pre cadet boys. Kin Ryu had 5 fighters competing for the club and starting the day off strongly was Lily Ramcharan u57kg who with 3 wins and 2 loses finished in 9th place, a career high for her. In u48kg Olivia Barfoot-Saunt was on fire winning her 1st 3 fights in style. After a loss in the semi-final she competed for bronze but a mistake in the fight cost her a medal and she finished in 5th place.

In u52kg Lucy Robinson was only going for gold having won a bronze and silver in the past 2 British Championships. She didn't falter all day as she quickly headed to the final and after a thrilling contest she finished as British Champion 2024. 

In the Pre Cadets our 2 athletes Mikael Hussain u55kg and Julian Neubauer-Swallow u46kg were raring to go from the start, both taking excellent early wins to book their places in the medal rounds. 

Julian headed into the bronze medal fight after an epic 7 min semi-final where he emerged victorious winning a fantastic bronze medal. 

Mikael Hussain was our last medal contest of the day after battling through the early rounds to gain a place in the final. It was not to be the end that he hoped for but won a superb bronze medal at his 1st British Championship.

Kin Ryu as a club finished 3rd on the club medal table wrapping up an incredible championships. Well done dragons!