Dean Smith and Craig McGeever represented the club at Sunday’s Split Grade competition.
Craig made his competition debut in the boy’s red and yellow belt competition at -30kg. He was narrowly defeated in his first fight, conceding a yuko in the final seconds. His second fight went in to two periods of golden score, before Craig won on a penalty. Unfortunately this was not sufficient to take him through to the knock out stages.
Dean delivered an excellent performance, knocking his first opponent down for waza-ari with o-soto, before scoring a decisive ippon. In his second fight, Dean again looked dominant, and was unfortunate to be caught on the ground with a juji gatame. His third fight was shorter, being thrown for ippon with drop seoi nage. His performance was sufficient to advance him in to third place and a well deserved bronze medal in the adult novice category.
There is still time to enter the Hampshire Split Grade competition on 31 July.
Summer break may nearly be here – but there is a lot of judo to still squeeze in!
Entry is now OPEN for the Hampshire Split Grade Open, to be held at Eastleigh’s Fleming Park Leisure Centre on 31 July.
