VI success in Germany

The British Judo VI Team enjoyed a successful day at the German Open in Heidelberg on Saturday 6 February.

With a mix of Rio hopefuls and up and coming prospects in action it was chance for the team to test itself on the international stage.

Chris Skelley made a strong start to 2016 with gold in the -100kg category. The British judoka made a great start as he threw VI Judo legend Antonio Tenorio da Silva (BRA) just four seconds into the contest. He followed this up with a solid win over Oliver Upmann (GER) before displaying his newaza abilities in final against Oleksandr Pominov (UKR) as he came back from a yuko down to secure the hold down and the win.

He was not the only British judoka to top the medal rostrum as 16 year old Evan Molloy (-73kg) came away with gold in the Junior competition with three superb wins before backing that up with a well-deserved fifth place finish in the Seniors.

Jack Hodgson (+100kg) continued his impressive run of medals as he finished with silver beating Mike Larsen (USA) and Tulga Demirel (GER) while Natalie Greenhough also came away with a silver medal in the -70kg category only losing out to Alano Maldonado (BRA) for gold.

There was also an impressive debut for AASE student Connah Anders in the -81kg category. In his first ever VI Judo event Anders gave a good account of himself against Ukranian Paralympic champion Oleksandr Kosinov before just missing out on a chance to fight for bronze against Daniel Goral (GER).