The Junior Team BJC travelled to Antwerp on 13/14 November for the International Ippon
Trophy Competition, which had almost 250 competitors. The under 11 and under 13
judoka put in a fantastic display of top quality judo of which the BJC should be rightly
proud. The teams contest wins included 17 Ippons, enough to place Team BJC in top
place amongst 40 teams from across Europe including Germany, Belgium, United
Kingdom and Netherlands.
The day started well with Ethan Dawes winning Ippon with an enormous Harai-Goshi
before going on to claim Silver in his group. This was swiftly followed by Megan Duffy with
Bronze, Kayleigh Drury with Silver and Elizabeth Phillips with Gold. The medal haul
continued in the afternoon with Olivia Piechota demonstrating a textbook left handed
Ippon Seoi-Nage in her first fight and then going on to take gold with three Ippon wins.
Lucy Day won Silver which was followed by Lorcan Williamson and Daniel Hemming with
Bronze. Ryan Daughtery and Jack Anderson both won Silver.
The team, led by Dave Hamblin, was joined by John Massman from HQC, Tom Grey as
the teams referee and Jackie Grey who kindly assisted Dave. Plenty of cheering and support for
all judoka was provided by the 21 parents and family who travelled with the party. Team
BJC would like to say a big thank you to Roger Harris and the BJC for all the effort and
commitment they gave to enable this successful trip to take place. Our thanks go also to
our driver Richard from Roberts Coach Company.