The event this year was stronger than ever, attracting 423 competitors from 43 nations. The Russians dominated the male categories, winning four gold and three silver medals. In the women, the Germans were the strongest nation, winning three Gold medals, a bronze and two fifth places.

We attended this event so some of our top young players could benefit from the experience of training for and competing in a Milestone International event. The team was selected using from the results of a trials held in March 08.

We had arranged to get the team out to Sarajevo a day early, so that the players would get time to familiarise themselves with the venue, rest from the travelling and do any final preparation work. Unfortunately, we had considerable difficulties with our flights and there were times when we wondered whether the players would arrive in time to compete. We travelled in two groups in order to make the most of the cheaper seats available on two different routes. The first group had no problems, travelling from Gatwick to Sarajevo via Ljubljana. The second group, after having their flight to Vienna cancelled, caught a later flight spent the night in Vienna. After a lot of begging with the airline, we managed to get the two players who were competing on the first day of the competition on an afternoon flight to Sarajevo the next day. The rest had another night in Vienna and then travelled to Sarajevo via Croatia. For some of the team, it took 50 hrs of travelling and four flights to get there.

Our players approached the event in a very positive manner. Many showed how much they had improved in the areas which had been highlighted in their earlier Internationals this year. It should be remembered that two of our players were very young (14 years old), and only 2 had attended this event previously. We finished with 7 th Places from Chloe Jackson (Ford Judo Club) and Ella Carter-Allen (Moberly Judo Club).

The Girls

-44kg Charlotte Wraith

Charlotte was one of our more experienced players, having competed in this event last year. She drew the French player, Clement first. At the start of the contest, she successfully dealt with her opponent’ high left grip, but in the later stages was caught with o-guruma.

She came back hard in her first repercharge contest, against Fraterner (AUT), scoring early on with kogi-gari for yuko. Her third fight was against Prince (NED), who threw Charlotte near the start with o-soto-gari for ippon, and went on to win the bronze medal.

- 48kg Chloe Jackson

Chloe Jackson was our most experienced member of the team, having competed in both the Cadet European Championships and the EYOF last year. She easily won her first contest against Lushychava (BLR), with a hold down. Next she had the eventual gold medallist, Verhagaen (NED). Chloe was holding her own well until they went into newaza. Here the Dutch player was strong and progressively worked on Chloe until she got a submission from Ju-ji-gatame. Chloe won her next 3 contests convincingly, beating Vatsova (BUL), Bach (DEN) and Matai (ROU) using her tachiwaza skills. Her last fight was against Lazorova (RUS). Chloe controlled her opponent well at the start, going ahead when her opponent was awarded a penalty for passivity. However, she was not able to hold on to this lead, and the Russian caught her cleanly with tsuri-goshi. The Russian went on to win the bronze medal.

-52kg Sarah Pang

In her first fight against Popovic (BIH), Sarah looked very determined and focused. She controlled the fight well, scoring a couple of times with drop seoi-nage. In her second fight against Majorosova (SVK), she had difficulties dealing with her opponent’s right hand grip. With the pressure on, she attempted sumi-gaeshi, for which she was given a penalty. When chasing the score, she dropped a koka, and was then held down. In her third fight against Babayan (ARM), she was unable to cope with the extreme Russian style consisting of strong take downs and kata-gurumas, and ended up loosing by wazari.

-57kg Sophie Sandy

Sophie Sandy fought Rossenwasser (ISR first fight). It was a hard contest, during which she attacked aggressively, but she was caught with a left hari-goshi, mid way through the contest. She chased the score but succumbed to a left uchi-mata for ippon. Sophie had no problems with her next contest against Behasava BLR, with determination she caught Behasava with a drop seoi-nage for ippon. In Sophie’s third contest she lost to the experienced Yaldiz TUR. After a hard contest the Turk threw with a Uchi-mata counter for ippon.

-63kg Jade Williams

Jade had had little previous experience of this level of competition. Never-the-less, she was up for the challenge, and approached the event with good focus. First fight was against Jeske (GER). Jade was dominant in early stages of the fight, but made a defensive error in newaza, which ultimately cost her the contest. In her second match against Katipoglu (TUR), she again started off by dominating the contest, but in the second minute, she allowed player to get strong left hand grip, which lead to her getting thrown for with harai-goshi for yuko. She came back hard in the later stages, but could not do not enough to pull the score back.

-70kg Ella Carter-Allen

Ella was one of our youngest team members, but she approached the event with confidence and conviction, showing a huge improvement on her last International in Poland. She quickly won her first contest against Bulat (MDA), throwing her with harai-goshi. In her next contest, Ella worked hard to get her own strong high right grip, while preventing the German (Dunkel) from doing the same. Eventually though, the German used her strength to take Ella to the ground and hold her for ippon. This player went on to win Gold. Ella came back hard in the repercharge, repeatedly throwing Simonsen (SWE) with o-soto-makekomi, until eventually she threw her flat on her back. Against the eventual bronze medallist, Derai (FRA), Ella was unable to deal with her opponent’s strong high right grip and was caught for ippon with o-soto-gari. Although it was disappointing for Ella not to medal, this overall experience will put her in a strong position for the Cadet European Championships next year.

+70kg Lucy Deakin

Lucy fought Godelle (FRA) in her first contest, was very confident in her approach but was overpowered into a strong hold by the French girl. In her repercharge contest fight against Lymperopolou (GRE) Lucy was caught with Koshi-Jime by the more experienced Greek.

The Boys

-50kg Arran Turner

Arran fought Lopouhhov (EST) first. He was performing well, but then got caught for waza-ari and could not get the score back. The Estonian went on to win the bronze medal. Next, Arran came up against Rooney from Ireland, whom he had never previously lost to. Unfortunately, his lip cut against his brace and the doctor stopped the match, as he was unable to stop the bleeding. A very disappointing day for this consistently hard working, dedicated player.

-55kg Adam Conroy

First fight for Adam went to golden score against Capatana (ROU). Eventually this ended in a loss due to a penalty for dropping. In his second fight against Rudnytsk (UKR), Adam put in a very high rate of attacks, which resulted in the UKR being penalised for passivity. The third fight was against the Dimitrov (BUL), which he again won by shido, dominating the attacking though out the contest. In his last fight, Adam was thrown for kata-gurama, which was scored waza-ari, and was then held down by the eventual bronze medallist, Bulat (MDA).

-60kg Karlo Manulat

Karlo has rapidly made the jump from not making the WCS squad when the players were identified at the end of last year, to being co-opted and representing Great Britain in this prestigious event. First match against Zadro (BIH), he won in golden score, throwing his opponent for ippon with seoi- nage. He came up against a strong French man next (Recosio), and was unable to deal with the quality of this player’s newaza, which led to a submission from an arm lock. Against the Belguim player, Kennes, a similar situation occurred and Karlo was again arm locked.

-66kg Taylor Bell

Taylor looked nervous but confident in his first contest against Massart (POR) . Unfortunately, he was unable to break down the space to get close enough to throw his opponent and was eventually caught with an arm lock. In next match against Lebedevs (LAT), he initially went down a score, but then stepped up his game, throwing with a take-down for waza-ari. In his third contest against Kesil (LTU), he was caught early with tomoe-nage for ippon. Taylor will be young enough to compete in this event again next year.

-73kg Ben Fletcher

Ben fought the Greek, Gkaraklov, first match. With his opponent being tall, and it was difficult for Ben to get his favourite high grip. Instead, he took a triceps grip on the sleeve, and threw opponent for ippon with a side sutemi-waza. Next, against strong Ovijac (SLO), who was supported by had a very vocal group, it was a tight match. Ben was a shido up, but in last few seconds of the contest, he did an unnecessary drop and was penalised to equalise the score. In golden score, the Slovenian upped his game and caught Ben with sumi-gaeshi. In the repercharge, Ben met the Guy (FRA), who he dominated for the first 3 ½ minutes. In last 30 seconds of the contest, he made a mistake from a drop seoi-nage, and was held for ippon.

-81kg Jack Kelly

Jack fought throughout the day with a lot of heart and determination. First fight he lost against Solujevs (LAT), but immediately came back strong in the repercharge. He beat Delic (BIH) by koshi-jime, and then the Hungarian, Nagy, in golden score. In his next contest against the Ukrainian player, Retynskyy, Jack went ahead early on when his opponent was given a penalty for stepping out of the area. However, he was unable to keep this lead and his opponent caught him for ippon with drop-seoi-nage, destroying Jack’s medal dream.

-90kg Josh Ramm

Josh Ramm won first against Troisi (ITA), throwing him for yuko and then waza-ari, with counter tai-guruma. In the second contest he fought Zarzeczny (POL). This player had strong newaza, and eventually caught Josh with an arm lock. Josh’s next contest went to time against Boloban (UKR). The Ukrainian was persistent with his attacking, although he was unable to throw Josh. Josh lost this, his final contest, on a passivity penalty.

+90kg Josh Hill

This young young, Wesh boy of 14 years, was determined to do his very best in this event. His lack of experience of this level showed and he was very nervous as he walked out to fight his first contest against Marayev ( AZE). However, he started this fight well, putting in some strong attacks. As the contest progressed, he allowed opponent to dominate grips and was eventually caught in newaza, getting held for ippon. In his second match, he looked more confident, but again let his partner dominate, and got thrown with kata- guruma. Josh showed maturity after his matches, spending considerable time reflecting on his performances, watching his fights on the video, and looking to learn as much as he could about how to get himself in a stronger position for next time. Josh will be young enough to compete in this event again next year.

In summary

At the event it was noticeable that much more time was allowed for newaza than we see in Great Britain, and several of our players succumbed to the progressive nature of the newaza skills of their opponents.

We were disappointed not to have been amongst the medals, and there were many lessons to be learnt from this event. It was useful for our players to see and fight against the top players in Europe, so they have an idea of where they are currently at, and what they need to do if they want to be medalling at this level next time. The difficult travel conditions, the heat and humidity, dealing with lost bags, sharing with different roommates or even having a room on their own for the first time, were all really useful experiences for the future, as top players need to be able to deal distractions like these, without letting them affect their performance.

Results:

Chloe Jackson- 7 th (-48kg)

Ella Carter-Allen- 7 th (-70kg)