CJC have a Wale of a time!
Another busy weekend for the CJC troops, the Welsh Open in Cardiff was well attended and saw some excellent performances from the Juniors and Elite team alike.
Junior
Sarah Hill u70kg- Gold
David Saran u60kg- 5th
Francesa Paine u63kg- 7th
Senior
Frazer Chamberlain u90kg- Gold
Szandra Szogedi u63kg- Gold
Dru Oakes u66kg- Gold
James Martin u66kg- Silver
Marc Thompson u66kg -Gold (Masters)
Lee Shinkin u81kg- Silver
Sarah Hill u70kg- Silver
Reece Howard u60kg- 5th
Emma Chamberlain u52kg- 5th
Laura Tapping u70kg- 5th
Meanwhile over in Abu Dhabi at the Grand Slam event, Ashley McKenzie, Nathon Burns and Owen Livesey were on the hunt for World ranking points towards Rio Olympic qualification.
Ashley started off strong beating a Netherlands fighter but then lost to Mushkiyev from Azerbaijan. In the repecharge he picked himself up for another win this time against Kazakhstan to then face Ganbold of Mongolia in the bronze medal contest. Ashley was unable to secure the win and exited with a 5th place.
Owen Livesey -81kg had a tough draw facing World bronze medallist Toma of United Arab Emirates first fight. Owen really pushed his adversary and the fight certainly showed the CJC fighters potential but Toma’s experience was too much to overcome. Livesey reflected on the contest saying “Tough day today in Abu Dhabi. Tough draw. Happy with how I felt and took a lot from it, on to the next!”
Returning from a lengthy time off the mat due to injury Nathon Burns was unable to make an impact on the opposition this time but was upbeat about his performance “Thank you everyone for your amazing support, it means a lot and apologise for the early exit today. It’s a big one to come back to after 6 months out, but I’m more than confident in myself but today I fell short and I was bit rusty in my competition fighting. But I’m now back in the swing of things and I’ve just got to push forward hard and hunt these Olympic points down. Next stop, Mauritius this week coming. Thanks again guys and keep your faith in me please because my time will come.”
