British Open Sombo Wrestling Championships
Swallows Leisure Centre
Sittingbourne
Kent
Saturday March 12th
This was the 4th British Open held at the Swallows Leisure Centre, which has been organised by Sittingbourne Judo Coach Keith Costa as with most events Keith organises it was extremely well run.
Sittingbourne Warrior Grappling Academy were at the forefront of the medals out of a possible 54 medals the club took 21 of them a remarkable achievement.
Countries that took part in the event were England, Scotland, N Ireland, Germany, Iran, Uzbekistan, USA, France, Cameroon. Many other countries had booked into the competition but were refused visas, it seems if you enter this country illegally you are welcomed with open arms but if you try and entered legally you are stopped. Those people who were refused entry to the UK were genuine sportsman in a lot of cases people known to UK only Sombo Grandmaster Martin Clarke. This ridiculous situation must stop as Keith had been asked to run the World Championships in Sittingbourne, a prestigious event for the town and the county, he had to refuse purely because of the fact that a lot of countries would not get visas. If London got the Olympics maybe the same could happen at least that is a few years into the future, by then we have a government who got their priorities right.
Those who follow the exploits of the Warriors sister club the Young Judo Club will recognise the names Ashley Jordan Kieran Allen Jacob Hyland Sam Miller and Lauren Jones, these were all of our junior gold medallist. All of these players are Judo and Kurash players. Ashley Jordan wins medals at every event he attends, Jacob Hyland had a brilliant win beating the very impressive Jennek Redinus from Germany, Alex Costa was in devastating form throwing all her opponents with thunderous hip throws. All these youngsters had some very hard fights.
Jason Fathers deserves a special mention he got a bronze medal in the Youth group placing behind two Germans, the medal doesn’t do justice to his performance he performed some of the best throws of the day and only lost to finalist on a count back. This is were both competitors scored the same amount of points in this case 2pts each, with the winner being the one who scored the last point sadly to say this was not Jason. Another find has been a Iranian immigrant who now trains with Martin Clarke, we only know him as Yousef, he fought for the club in the Men’s Lightweight cat and managed to get to the final where he met one of UK’s most experienced players Paul Sawyer where he scored the first 2pts Paul as expected went on to win the bout but this excellent result for Yousef did not please him. He would not talk to anyone after the match as he felt he had shamed his new club and new friends, Martin explained to him that winning a Sombo competition is not a life or death matter (well not in this country).
The main event is always the Senior event especially the Men and in every final we had a competitor John Clarke was in superb condition going for his 2nd British Open title, fresh from his win in the recent International Kurash Tournament nothing was going to stop him the final lasted literally a few seconds when he beat Lee Till from Bournemouth. John had fought Lee earlier in a team event although he won comfortably Lee’s who was lot taller and stronger then John successfully tired him up and slowed the fight up so he could use his strength. His Coach and father Martin Clarke told John not to take him for granted and instead of locking up, he was to use speed and fitness. John came out so fast it caught Lee unprepared and he was thrown for a total victor.
The real fight everyone had been looking forward to was Ashley Costa against the Uzbek Umid Bozzorov. Ashley was having a good day and was in devastating form having beaten his arch rival Paul Sawyer in the team event he was looking good but so was the Uzbek. Umid a Uzbek national champion had made fast work of all his opponents. The fight started with the pair sparring for grips with the Uzbek out powering Ashley and looking the more dominate, he attacked but made the mistake of leaving his leg to high, Ashley grabbed this and caught him with a powerful pick up for 4 pts. This seems to demoralise the Uzbek and Ashley went on to beat him 12 pts to Nil in what was his best ever performance in a very successful career.
There was also a team event on the same day British CombatSombo Association v Sombo UK. The BCSA team consisted of Warriors members Ashley Costa, John Clarke and Neale Arkley. Each of them won their match and took the "TILTING SOMBO CUP"
Anyone interested in Sombo, Kurash should contact Keith Costa on 01795 426784, e-mail Sombo@blueyonder.co.uk, www.sittingbournejudo.co.uk
On the Judo front Martin Clarke will be teaching Nage No Kata (this is a traditional form of demonstrating Judo throws) on a Monday night at the Swale Martial Arts Club East Street 8pm. All students wishing to become a Black Belt have to learn this.
Sunday April 17th Garden of England Open Judo Championship Swallows open to all clubs and associations. This year we a featuring a special cup for the most successful club which will be in honour of Admiral Nelson’s anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. This is where he stopped a foreign power conquering Britain. This will be called the Trafalgar Cup.
Kurash
After the Easter Break the club will be running a Kurash Class every Friday from 7pm till 8pm for Juniors and Seniors.