A big congratulations to all of our Sobell Judoka who travelled with team JFAUK to the 2019 Miyazaki Cup held in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Held annually, the event daws a plethora of European Judoka from the U.K, Greece, Bulgaria, Algeria and Macedonia amongst other countries. Differing from mainstream judo events, this event is run under a traditional rule set meaning that leg grab techniques are permitted and lots of emphasis is placed on ne-waza groundwork fighting.
This year, Sobell achieved 1 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals. Silver medals came from Sam Sampson (-83kg), Fionn Rowan (-71kg), Alex Charalambous (-66kg), Sasha McClean (-91kg) and bronze medals were achieved by Lucian Buleandra (-79kg), Mikey Barton (-91kg) and Hannah Chesham (-78kg). Finishing the day was a gold medal from Sam Sampson who entered the open-weight category and came away with first place, despite facing Judoka nearly twice his size!
Also attending was Alexis Bardini (-75kg) and Karl Summerbell, a para-athlete who entered the able bodied category(-71kg). However, tough draws saw these judoka exit the tournament in the opening rounds. Regardless, both fought extremely well and have gained valuable experience for their next event.
Also competing were judoka from Club Judoka and Dundee Ippon Judo Club.
