Photos ©actionplus sports images

European Judo arrived in Brentford on Saturday 6 December for the Finals of the European Team Championships for Men. London welcomed teams from the Ukraine, Georgia and Spain who were there to battle it out with Great Britain for the European Team Championship title.

Hundreds of supporters packed into the sell out 800 capacity crowd at Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre. Amongst the large number of British fans were the Spanish, Georgian and Ukranian supporters, all there to see their top Judo stars, most who had not competed in Britain since the 1999 World Championships in Birmingham.

Great Britain, who had qualified automatically as the host nation, had a squad that included Commonwealth Champions Winston Gordon and James Warren, World medallist John Buchanan, David Somerville and Euan Burton. Georgia, Spain and the Ukraine, who had qualified from the heats in May, contained some of Europe’s top Judo players including current European Champions and World medallists.

Unlike other Judo competitions, for the European Team Championships each country selected a team of seven players for each round with one player in each weight category. In each round players fought against other by weight category and the country with the most wins is declared the match winner.

The event on Saturday began with two semi-finals with the winning teams progressing through to the final and losing teams of each semi-final competing for the bronze medal. This format provided an exciting championship tournament for a very vocal crowd.

A tough draw meant that Britain faced Georgia in the semi final round. Britain lost 6-1 to the eventual champions with Euan Burton being sole winner. Spain beat the Ukraine 4-3 in the other semi final match.

The win by Spain meant that Britain faced the Ukraine in the bronze-medal match where they were defeated 5-2. The British victories in that round came from Winston Gordon and David Somerville.

In the final Georgia defeated Spain 4-2.

Read Barnaby Chestermans report on the IJF Website

Earlier in the day over 40 young judoka attended an hour and a half training session at the venue by former World Champion Neil Adams MBE and British Judo’s Performance Director and Olympic gold medallist Udo Quellmalz.

Photograph available from Bob Willingham bob@twoj.org

Later in the evening the BJA hosted the EJU gala dinner at the old Middle Temple Hall in London. At the event Georgia won the European men’s team of the year award, Karina Bryant was named Sportswoman of the year and Germany’s Florian Wanner, won the Sportsman of the year.