Josh Butler has just won a silver medal at the Poland Junior European Cup at 100kgs. This event is one of the toughest on the junior international calendar with all major judo nations represented. After a bye into the second round Josh defeated his Polish opponent convincingly with several big throws to reach the quarter final. Here he faced the 2nd seed from Latvia. Butler defeated his opponent with a massive rear technique in five seconds. He then faced another Polish fighter for a place in the final. Although the fight went the distance Butler was never troubled and eased into his first major final. After a bright start against the no. 1 seed from Ukraine Butler was caught with a throw and had to settle for silver. Also competing for Great Britain from Camberley’s elite team were Tom Williams and Frazer Chamberlain. Frazer, at 73kg, had a tough first fight against the 2nd seed from Latvia. The Latvian did just enough to win and Chamberlain’s day was over despite a gutsy effort. Tom Williams at 81kg produced a huge throw to defeat his first opponent from Belarus. He then lost to Germany but fought on in the repechage defeating a Norwegian opponent with several techniques. In the contest to reach the repechage final against Holland Williams unfortunately lost in golden score whilst leading. Both Williams and Chamberlain will take a great deal of experience from this event and will join Butler in representing GBR at the Berlin European Cup in two weeks time.
At the Hampshire senior open Camberley came away with a bag of medals. Jess Black took the gold medal at 63kg with some lovely throws. Tomoko Kumamoto won the gold at 70kg and Robyn Irwin the bronze. At 66kg both Lasha Lekishvili and Ian Byrne (Coolmine, IRL) were on fine form. Both men won five matches to face each other in the final with Ian emerging triumphant. Not satisfied with medals earlier in the day Robyn, Jess and Tomoko entered the women’s open with Tomoko winning gold, Robyn silver and Jess the bronze!
At cadet level Stuart Brown continues to shine at 66kg. Stuart won a silver medal at the recent Nottingham Open and topped this by taking gold at the West of England Open. At the West of England Open Stuart topped his pool with two good wins for a place in the semi final. He continued in fine form winning both the semi and final by maximum points. This is great progression for the British Schools Champion.
