World Masters Sombo Wrestling Championships Minsk Belarus and Bedford Open Judo Champs
October 16th, 17th & 18th
JOHN CLARKE International Sombo Player in 5 different age bands since 16 A British Record.
3 members of the Warriors Grappling Academy based at the Swale Martial Arts Club Sittingbourne travelled to Minsk for the Annual Masters Championships. The Masters is an event which you in age and weight minimum age is 35 years, competing were John Clarke, Pete Wise and Lee Shaxted went along as Manager. For John Clarke this was quite a special occasion as he only made the age restriction by one day he was 35 on October 16th, his birthday did not go unnoticed by the organising Committee who during the official opening gave him a bouquet of flowers and presents, this in turn attracted Belarus National TV to interview him asking him “Why would you want to compete on his Birthday” John gave the diplomatic answer saying it was a chance to visit their beautiful Country!. Apart form his birthday John celebrated being the only Sombo Wrestler in GB to achieve being an International Sombo Wrestler in all the different Age categories and in all ages he has competed in a World Championships. In The Cadets (u 16) Worlds placed 2nd, juniors (u 18) Worlds unplaced, Youth (u 20) Worlds placed 5th. Senior Worlds placed 7th, Masters World placed 5th
The 1st World masters was in 1999 and was held in Malta and had approx 100 competitors now it has over 400 entries, year by year becoming more and more popular. It is very much dominated by the Eastern Block former communist countries, with very few Western Counties entering. As the competition does not restrict how many entries each country has, there is no longer anything as an easy draw. P Wise fought in the 50 to 54 age group u 90kilo, Peter is a long established 2nd Dan Black Belt Judo player, he also is a previous British Sombo Championships medallist and a Nation standard Sombo referee, yet this was his 1st international cap. Although Peter fought his best he did not make the medals but as he said the experience was positive and he now knows what to expect for next years event. Peter lost 5 stone in weight to compete in the Competition. The club had high hopes for John Clarke the UK’s most experience Sombo wrestler but he was no t be, to reach the final he had to fight a very experienced Russian. John attempted a rather lack lustre sacrificial throw and one on the ground the Russian arm locked him, is only consolation was he done the same arm lock on every other competitor. To win a Bronze he had to fight the Uzbek fighter who managed a 1 pt throw at the beginning of the match which he held on to as john just could not break his defence. John said if he is to win medals in this event he needs to get a lot stronger as he noticed that the Veteran players rely more on strength techniques like arm lock to win events. Picasa Web Albums - The Bear - World Masters Sombo Minsk 2008
Our next International Sombo event will be the World Championships in St Petersburg Russia in November, two members have been selected to represent Great Britain they Debbie Jackson and Danny Carrott, Martin Clarke will be going as President of the British Sombo Federation and Valerie Clarke will be attending in her position as CombatSombo Representative.
On the same weekend as the World Masters our Judo players from the Young Judo Club participated in the Bedford Open held at Bedford High Girls School, this was the second year of running and is proving to be a popular Judo Tournament attracting people from all over the country. As mentioned Debbie Jackson and Danny Carrott are of to the Worlds and they used this tournament as a warm up both winning Gold
YJC Medal Results:
Gold
Debbie Jackson
Danny Carrott
Ashley Jordan
Jamie Marzetti
Liam Jordan
Ben Franks
James McMaster
Christopher Coleman
Silver
Joe Hodges
Max Stevens-Hall
Curtis Childs
Daniel Coleman
Bronze
Ryan Bartlett
Sharma Dacombe
Lauren Allen
William McMaster
4th
Joseph Carlow
Special mention to Vicky Franks who at 35 years of age only took up the sport 6 months ago and entered her first ever Judo Comp although unplaced she done extremely well in an age where even teenagers refuse to enter competitions she deserved a Well Done for having the courage to enter .
The Sittingbourne Judo Society has only been with the British Judo association for two in that time they have 7 Black Belts, 5 Level 2 coaches, 3 international Medallist and now they are in the final part of collecting a BJA Club Mark and the Swale Martial Arts Club have applied to the Kent County Council for there Club Mark
On November 9th Sittingbourne and the UK will see the first ever GRAPPLING CHAMPIONSHIPS , this event will be held at the Swallows Leisure Centre. What is unusual about this event is that involves the staging of 5 different styles of Jacket Wrestling Japanese Judo, Russian Sombo Wrestling, Uzbek Kurash, Asian Belt Wrestling and British SportCombatSombo and member of the Young Judo Club and Warriors Grappling Academy will be participating in all events some members will do all the events. The Young Judo club has always been one of the UK’s Leading Judo Clubs and now they have become the leading Grappling Club in GB.
Further information www.sittingbourne.org, sombogb @ Blueyonder.co.uk, 01795 437124
