Several players from the club travelled to Cardiff for the Welsh Open on Saturday & Sunday 17th & 18th January. On the Saturday it was the older players from Age Bands C & D with the younger ones fighting on the Sunday.
First up on Saturday was Rory Kelly in the under 55kgs, looking for a better result than his Bronze medal in the previous year. Rory got off to a good start with a bye in the first round and 2 good wins in the quarter-final and semi-final. He then had to settle for silver as he was defeated in the final by one the top British players in his weight – Kyle Sweet from Wolverhampton.
At the same time on the next mat Jodie Kee started the defence of her Welsh Open title from the previous year. Fresh from her bronze medal success at the British Trials the week before, earning her a place on the Junior British Squad for 2009, Jodie found herself in a pool of 5 and was faced with 4 tough fights to retain her title. Jodie out-classed her opposition with 4 good wins all by the maximum Ippon score to once again win gold.
Next up was Lisa Cardwell in the under 57kgs. Lisa was trying to go one better than her silver medal the year before, she got off to an excellent start winning her first fight in under 5 seconds! A much tougher fight followed in the semi-final which Lisa dominated throughout and eventually pinned her opponent in the last minute of the contest to earn a place in final. Lisa didn’t get a chance in the final, a lapse in concentration saw her lose in the first 15 seconds and she had to make do with silver for the second year in a row.
Kirsty Kee fought next in the u48kgs in age band D. With only 2 competitors in the under 48kg category, Kirsty found herself in a straight-final against current British Silver Medallist Stephane Hahn. Kirsty dominated the fight from the outset defeating her opponent in the first minute with an Ippon throw. Kirsty then stepped up a weight to the under 52kgs to get some more fights. In this weight she found herself in a pool of 3 with the silver medallist from the previous weekend’s Junior Brititsh Trials – Abbie Cole and the top Junior Irish player at 52kgs – Louise Brown, Kirsty fought well in both contests but unfortunately lost both and didn’t progress from her pool.
In the same weight, Murakwai’s Lucinda Bell found herself in the opposite pool. Lucinda unfortunately lost both her fights, the 2 players to progress from Lucinda’s pool both made it to the final.
The last 2 to compete on the Saturday were Abdul (Abs) Mohamed in the under 60kgs and Joe Frey in the under 66kgs. Both weight categories were extremely tough and wins were hard to come by. Abdul lost his first fight by disqualification after receiving 4 shido’s as the referees tightened up on the new rules. After getting a bye in the 1st round of the repechage Abs then won his next contest contest leaving him 2 fights off a bronze medal, unfortunately he lost his next fight leaving him in 7th place. At the same time on the next mat, Joe struggled to find form. He fought well in his opening fight but lost by submission from an arm-lock, in his second fight he led the whole way through to the end were a silly mistake allowed his opponent level the scores, sending the fight into ‘golden-score’ were Joe narrowly lost. In ’golden-score’ the scoreboard is wiped and the fight restarts with 3 minutes on the clock and the first person to get a score wins.
On the Sunday it was the turn of the age bands A & B. First up was Cameron Kelly in the under 38kgs. Cameron was in a pool six meaning he would have 5 fights. He got off to great start winning his first fight in about 5 seconds but then a series of silly mistakes and some great throws from some quality opposition saw him lose his next 3 fights. This left Cameron with 1 last fight which he had to win to claim a bronze medal. His opponent was the same player who had beaten him in the final of the Kenka Open 3 months earlier in Scotland but this time Cameron was able to reverse the result and win bronze.
Next up was Robyn Kelly in the u36kgs. As there were only 3 girls in this weight, Robyn only had 2 fights. Her 1st was against current British Champion – Rebecca Burnett. The fight started well for Robyn as she threw Rebecca for a yuko, but shortly after she ended up getting pinned for 25 seconds. Robyn then had to win her next fight to win silver which she did with a convincing wazari throw and straight into a hold-down.
Bobbie Cardwell was the last to compete in the under 44kgs. Bobbie, who won gold at last year’s Welsh Open was in a pool of 5. She had 3 convincing wins all by the maximum ippon score and lost a closely contested fight with the eventual gold medallist – Paige Brazier from Pinewood. Bobbie won a well-deserved silver medal.
Congratulations to all from the club who fought, a great weekend was had by all…