Lasha Lekishvili our, only junior member of the Elite Team in this event, looked confident in the -73 kg weight. Facing all of the top players from the British trials, he won 4 fights by big scores to get to the final which he won with a maximum score to claim the gold medal.
In the senior section James Martin put in an excellent performance after returning from an ankle injury which put him out of the British Trials. He looked like he was out to prove a point, with some explosive throws he notched up 3 wins to get into the final. James faced British trials silver medallist Lucas Rowe, he went down a seven point score early on and despite some good pressure earning Rowe 2 penalties it wasn’t quite enough leaving James with silver.
Camberley had a strong representation in the -66kg category with three competitors in the weight. Dru Oakes and Andrew Panayi both won two fights each to face each other in the semi final, unfortunately Dru was withdrawn from the fight after sustaining a neck injury. Meanwhile on the other side of the draw Aaron Turner was also working his way to the final by securing 3 wins all with big scores to face club mate Andrew Panayi. Training together every day and knowing each other’s judo inside out makes for a difficult contest, this time Aaron came out on top with maximum points to secure the win. Gold to Turner, Silver to Panayi and 5th to Dru Oakes.
After winning the Junior section Lasha won two and lost two contests in the senior section-some good experience against older fighters. Fighting above his usual weight was Lee Shinkin in -81kg. Looking strong from the outset Shinkin won two contests by maximum score and then his third with a 7 point win to face Max Stewart in the semi final. After leading for all of the contest Lee was countered in the last minute leaving him in the bronze medal contest. Lee threw his strong Scottish opponent immediately but was ruled to have touched his opponents leg when doing so-a disqualification offence under the new judo rules. This was later ruled to have been a refereeing mistake but Lee had to settle for 5th place on this occasion. The only female fighting this day was Emma Chamberlain who placed a credible 7th at under 57 kg after three hard matches.
Finally bringing the action in the heavy weights was Frazer Chamberlain in -90kg, in a tough weight Frazer won 3 contests, again with big scores, to earn his place in the final. His opponent was Michael Horley, a fierce rival from Kendal. After 6 minutes of intense fighting Horley capitalised on a momentary lapse from Chamberlain to secure a hold for the win deep in golden score overtime.Frazer added another medal to the Camberley tally, this time a silver.
Well done to all, a strong performance across the board and great to see Camberley picking up so many results in a national ranking event.
