Medals galore
Friday, October 31, 2008
 

It was a triple celebration for Tonbridge Judo Club last week with five boys qualifying for the English national squad, after the best-ever set of results from the tough Clacton International and two bronze medals from the prestigious Scottish Open Championships.

Hayesbrook pupil James Sparks is the latest recruit to the British Judo Association's world class start programme. His selection follows recent success at national level and he joins fellow club-mates James Martin (15), Paul Crouch (15), Michael Musker (14) and Dean Garlick (15) who have all been reselected.
Chief coach Chris Bowles said: "James Sparks has reaped the benefits of his dedication to his judo and his physical training. He has been on the fringe for just over a year and has now burst on to the scene with a vengeance. Along with Paul, Michael and Dean he will be in line for the European trials next year."
Reserve places on the squad have also been awarded to Jemima Yeats-Brown and Elizabeth Draper, both 13, whose performances will be monitored over the next three months.

Tonbridge Judo Club sent 14 contestants to the recent Clacton International Festival of Judo and came away with a superlative set of results, winning four gold, four silver and three bronze medals. Gold medals went to Enrico Atkinson (11) -42kg, Jemima Yeats-Brown (13) -57, James Martin (15) -55 and Andrew Panayi (15) -60. Silver medals were awarded to Tommy Chambers (11) -30, George Cullum (12) -34, Dean Garlick (15) -50 and Frazer Chamberlain, (17) -66.Bronze medals went to Harry Try (11), -38, Paul Crouch (15) -55 and James Draper (16) -55. Scarlett English (12) came up against the six-times National Champion in her first fight in the –52 category and was doing well until a small mistake cost her the fight. Elizabeth Draper (13), -52, had been ill during the week leading up to the event, but still gave an excellent account.

At the weekend, three members of the Tonbridge JC performance squad travelled to Glasgow to fight in Scotland's premier judo tournament - the Scottish Open Judo Championships, at Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena. It was only the second time that James Martin, Frazer Chamberlain and Andrew Panayi had taken part in championships at under 20 and all were at the bottom of the age band. They were accompanied by Tonbridge's World Masters silver medallist Steve Chamberlain, whose coaching produced two bronze medals and one seventh place. Martin and Frazer Chamberlain took the two third places with outstanding performances. Panayi was unfortunate in coming up against the French number one in the fight before a bronze medal and was caught early on for the maximum score of ippon.
Steve Chamberlain then made a decision to enter Frazer and Andrew Panayi into the senior competition. Frazer Chamberlain finished seventh while Panayi gained ninth place and the experience of fighting GB number two senior, Graham Trinder.
 

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