5th. International Judo Tournament
Ingelmunster, Belgium
14th. March 2009
Two members of The Young Judo Club Sittingbourne took part in the 5th. International Tournament in Ingelmunster on Saturday. Run by Judo club Kawaishi of Ingelmunster, over six mat areas, the competition attracted over 450 competitors, over the age of 14 years old, and a minimum of 3rd. KYU standard. Judoka from the Belgian and British team squads were present, as well as top quality teams and players from France and the Netherlands.
As both players from the Y.J.C. were seniors, their weigh-in time was 13.30 to 14.00 hours, so there was no need for a very early start, and the whole outing was completed in a comfortable day trip. Ingelmunster is about an hour and a half away from Calais.
The two members of the club, Lee and Danny Carrott, were joined by Spitfire Judo Club judoka and friend, Martin Coyne and their father and club coach Colin. Together they set sail aboard the P&O ferry Pride of Burgundy, leaving Dover harbour at 08.30
As both Danny and Martin had been making an effort to loose weight, breakfast was skipped. This had nothing to do with the queue that was stretching all the way from the restaurant and down the stairs to the next level of the ship! However, Martin was caught out, having a sneaky chocolate croissant!
After arriving in Calais, and driving through France towards Ostende and onto Ingelmunster, we arrived at the sports centre slightly later than anticipated, due to a couple of detours on route, as the map reader (Lee) was reading the newspaper.
The three weighed-in, Martin U66kg, Danny U81kg and Lee U90kg.
Martin, a 1st. Kyu, was the first to be called to compete, in a pool of 21 players. Unfortunately for him, it was all a bit hurried, as we had all missed his weight group being called to the mat. The first we heard, was his name being called, with his opponent Florian Rogiers also a 1st. KYU, from Belgium, waiting patiently on the edge of the competition area.
Martin made the first meaningful attack with a makikomi throw, but did not score, and eventually lost after being thrown for a yuko, a waza-ari, then a waza-ari hold down. Unfortunately, with the way the pool sheets worked out, this was to be Martin’s only fight, as his opponent lost in the next round, which meant he took Martin’s place in the repercharge.
This was Martin’s first competition for over ten years and comes after a serious illness, so it good to see him back on the mat and competing as well.
Danny was next. One of 14 players, his first contest was against eventual silver medalist Kobe Grillet of Belgium. During the fight, Kobe threw him for a total of three yuko s, including a couple of foot sweeps which Danny did well to turn out of to avoid giving away larger scores. Dropping down to the repercharge, he was back in action against Rick Nieters of the Netherlands. No mistakes this time, as he ran out eventual winner with two waza-ari scoring throws. In order to progress to the bronze final, he took on fellow Englishman Ben Newbury from Samurai Judo Club, again winning with two waz-ari's. Last came the fight for the bronze. Only Englishman Lee Shinkin stood in his way of getting a medal. Lee, from Willesden Judo Club has a most impressive c.v. and is a hopeful for the London Olympics in 2012. He showed his class by throwing Danny for Ippon inside 20 seconds with sode tsuri komi goshi. Better luck at the Kent International in June, Dan!
Lee was last of the three to compete, in a pool of 13. First opponent up was Thijs Goethals of Belgium. The result was a convincing win for Lee, two yuko scoring throws were followed by a full Ippon with morote dori. Against the lot taller Tim De Wulf, also of Belgium (see photo) Lee took the
imitative with a yuko score and latter followed up with a win by arm lock submission with juji gatame. To progress to the final lee had to beat next opponent Sylvain Caron from Lille University. Sylvain caught Lee early on with sumi gaeshi, scoring a waza-ari and tried the same technique twice more without success. Towards the end of the contest lee attempted morote dori on the edge of the mat, Sylvain tried to counter with his sumi gaeshi, but looked to have missed with his leg. However, as he hit the floor he rolled Lee over his body and onto his back. A hard one for the referee to call, the score of ippon was given to Lee’s opponent. Going straight into the bronze final, Lee fought Johannes Lambrights, his third Belgian opponent, defeating him with a second waza-ari throw of te garuma, once more on the edge of the contest area.
With the competition drawing to a close, refreshments were sought out at the sports centre bar, which we left at six o’clock to head back to Calais and the Ferry home.
Verdict, a thoroughly good day out, highly recommended.
Lee was last of the three to compete, in a pool of 13. First opponent up was Thijs Goethals of Belgium. The result was a convincing win for Lee, two yuko scoring throws were followed by a full Ippon with morote dori. Against the lot taller Tim De Wulf, also of Belgium (see photo)
Lee took the imitative with a yuko score and latter followed up with a win by arm lock submission with juji gatame. To progress to the final lee had to beat next opponent Sylvain Caron from Lillie University. Sylvain caught Lee early on with sumi gaeshi, scoring a waz-ari's and tried the same technique twice more without success. Towards the end of the contest lee attempted morote dori on the edge of the mat, Sylvain tried to counter with his sumi gaeshi, but looked to have missed with his leg. However, as he hit the floor he rolled Lee over his body and onto his back. A hard one for the referee to call, the score of Ippon was given to Lee’s opponent. Going straight into the bronze final, Lee fought Johannes Lambrights, his third Belgian opponent, defeating him with a second waza-ari throw of te garuma, once more on the edge of the contest area.
With the competition drawing to a close, refreshments were sought out at the sports centre bar, which we left at six o’clock to head back to Calais and the Ferry home.
Verdict, a thoroughly good day out, highly recommended.