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Kent International
Young Judo Club/Sittingbourne Judo Society Club members John Clarke 4th Dan and Danny Carrott 2nd Dan both entered the Kent International at Crystal Palace London last weekend, there aim was to use the competition as part of their training programme for when they take part in the World Sombo Championships in November in Prague, John is also competing in the World Kurash Championships in Mongolia in October. Judo Competition is a Jacket Wrestling system from Japan and consists of throws, hold downs, strangles and arm lock with certain restrictions on how you hold your opponent, Sombo is a Jacket Wrestling sport from Russia where the contestants wear a short jacket, shorts and soft soled boots and consist of throws, hold downs, arm and leg locks there is no restriction on how you hold or attack your opponent, Kurash players wear a uniform exactly the same as a Judo Player but this sport only allows throws above the waist. Both players did not expect to win any matches because until recently they were not allowed to enter British Judo Association events, the BJA are the organisation that select the Olympic team. The reason why they could not enter was that until 18 months ago the BJA refused to allow its members to belong to other organisations outside there jurisdiction, both players belong to the International Budo Federation. This rather ridiculous rule has been dropped and Coach Martin Clarke 8th Dan recommended that the senior join the BJA as well. This rule has led to a lot of animosity in the past, BJA clubs would clam to be superior to other organisations, Young Judo Club members have proved that wrong when all those who for grade ratification got their grades confirmed. The next step was to prove our fighting ability, this was to be a lot harder as the Top Rank BJA Judoka were competing against the worlds finest, so the Kent International was the ideal place to test our players. The shock of the day is how well our men done, Coach Martin Clarke who was a member of the BJA Olympic judo Squad and a No 1 heavyweight in the late seventies, warned them not to expect two much but he admitted it had been 25 years since he was at the Palace. 21 year old Danny Carrott fought in the u81 kilo class put up one of his best performances of his Judo career he had a total of 4 matches, he won 2 both on Ippon (total victory) and lost 2, those he lost were on close margins and some strange refereeing decision. Danny is a very aggressive fighter and on the two matches he won he fought back from being behind to win, if Danny wanted to I am sure he would make the BJA British Team within a short period, once he mastered the BJA’s interpretation of the rules. There were some major differences in the rules in which the IBF work to for example an Ippon throw (Total Victory) is where you throw your opponent on their back with force, the Kent International interpretation seems to be if you roll on to your back an Ippon is called, the IBF does not allow you to fight outside the area the Kent International do and allow scores, throwing some one on their stomach got you a Yuko 5pt at the Kent International in the IBF this is not a score. Mind you before they entered the event they should have checked the difference in rules. At 33 years of age John Clarke was one of the older competitors, John last fought at Crystal Palace when he 17 years when he won a Bronze in the Men’s u65 kilo class, I this event he was competing u90 kilo a class he looked very small in. As mentioned the rules were a lot different to what John was used to and in every match he to come from behind to win. His first two fights set the standard he won both with total victory throws (Ippon) most of the fights from other players were going the distance. His third fight was against the eventual winner and this is where the difference in scoring affected the final outcome. A drop knee Kata Guruma (Fireman’s Carry throw from the knees) is very popular with top British Judoka and John was aware of that so when his opponent attacked with this throw John blocked but his opponent kept hold of his leg for a few seconds there was stalemate, John relaxed and gently rolled on to his back. The referee brought the two back to the middle of the mat, John was expecting his opponent to be penalised for attacking from the knees something banned from most Judo competition, only to see his rival being awarded the Contest with an Ippon. John’s supporters were in uproar but to no avail. All John could now do was to win the bronze which he did with great gusto he won all next 3 matches with Ippon, I doubt very much whether anyone else in the competition had scored 5 Ippon in one day. John had to make do with the Bronze, all his fans said it should have been the Gold and by the amount of congratulation he got from referee, officials and competitors after the Medal Presentation a lot of other thought the same.
Just a little post script John had a knee operation only 3 months ago and this was his first competition since then and he had to enter the Kent International without being able to do his favourite throw a drop knee shoulder throw by October and November John should be in prime condition and ready to take a World Medal.
John and Danny were a credit tot the club a club that believes hard work and hard Judoka make the best fighters.
The day before the Senior event was the Juniors where I am told there was 700 entries a marvellous turn out but they did have some difficulties as the BJA has brought out some new age banding rules where children are not allowed to use certain techniques until they reach a certain age, this caused a great deal of confusion. If Coaches Keith Costa and Miles Brown are to enter our children in these BJA events they must be briefed thoroughly before they compete.
Further information on Judo, Sombo, Kurash tel: 01795 437124, www.youngjudoclub.co.uk, youngjudoclub@yahoo.co.uk
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