Jemima defeated but Enrico stars

Twelve-year-old Enrico Atkinson, of Tonbridge Judo Club, bagged a gold medal for the second year running at the prestigious Budo Nord International Cup, in Sweden, recently.

The Tunbridge Wells Boys' Grammar School pupil was one of a large squad of the club's players who travelled to the annual training camp and tournament in the town of Lugi. This year the camp attracted around 600 young judo enthusiasts from all of the Scandinavian countries, plus teams from Hungary, Germany, France and Spain.

Fighting at -50kg, Atkinson had five contests and in the semi-final came up against his old adversary, Neil McDonald, from Scotland.

Normally this would be a very closely fought battle, but on this occasion Atkinson marched onto the final with ease.

The fight for gold was against a strong Scandinavian player who proved to be troublesome in the first part of the contest, but Atkinson's experience and training at national level came through to win him the gold medal in convincing style.


Benenden School pupil Jemima Yeats Brown, fighting in the -57kg category, was again in scorching form, proving that she is fast becoming the girl to beat on the European circuit.

There are not many players who can go the distance with 13-year old Yeats-Brown, according to Tonbridge coach Chris Bowles, so all credit must go to the Danish fighter for lasting the full contest time in the final, which ended in a draw.

In a controversial result, the referees then awarded the decision in favour of the Danish girl.

"Jemima took this defeat in her stride, and we all feel quite sure she will march towards the Heart of England Championships and Nationals in a positive frame of mind", said Bowles.

A silver medal went to 11-year-old Tommy Chambers (-34kg), who produced a very polished performance against foreign opponents and looked all set to take the gold medal until he was edged out of the running and had to settle for a deserved silver.

George Cullum, now an established member of Tonbridge's performance squad, is one of the most consistent medal winners over the past year and this occasion was no different. Thirteen-year-old Cullum battled his way through the preliminary rounds to once again secure his place in the final.

Here he came up against a player at the top of the weight group and grade level and had to settle for silver.

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