Nottingham Mini-Mon and Senior Kyu 2012 – Results

On Sunday 23 September Nottinghamshire Judo hosted the Nottingham Mini-Mon and Senior Kyu Open at the Bilborough Sports Centre in Nottingham.

This event was split into two sections one section for junior players aged 8-14 and graded Novice – Yellow+3 and the second section for senior players aged 14+ and graded 1st Kyu or below.

We had four entries into this event Connor and Ellie Tait in the junior section and William Humphreys and Arunas Beliukevicius in the senior section.

First up was Connor Tait in the boys -30kg. Connor got off to a flying start beating his first opponent by throw and hold for Ippon and then quickly dispatching his next two opponents by Ippon throws, this put Connor through to the semi-final. In the semi-final Connor was caught off guard and thrown quickly for Ippon which resulted in Connor receiving a Bronze.

Ellie was up next in a pool of five in the girls -25kg, Ellie won her first two contests the first by Ippon throw and the second by Ippon throw and hold, however her winning streak then took a blow and she lost both her remaining contests which put her in third place and a bronze medal.

Next it was time for our two oldest and most experienced players to take to the mat.

Arunas was on first in the Men -73kg, there were eight in this group which was split into two pools of four. Arunas ploughed through his group finishing in top position after dispatching all of his first three opponents by Ippon throws. He was then in the semi-final up against the runner-up of the other group. This contest went into golden score with Arunas eventually taking the win with a Yuko score, in the final Arunas met the winning player from the other pool and it was a hard fought contest with Arunas eventually losing out to a great Ippon throw, and receiving a silver medal.

William was our final competitor of the day and was in the -81kg category with 10 other competitors, these were split into three pools and William landed the smallest pool of three. William like Arunas bulldozed through his two pool contests winning both by Ippon throws. This put him through to the knockout stage where he secured a place in the semi-final beating his opponent with another Ippon throw. The semi-final was a close fought contest with nearly both competitors getting disqualified at different stages for leg grabs, eventually William conquered the bout and threw his opponent for Ippon and a place in the final. In the final William met another player that had won every contest and this was going to be a tough match; William like Arunas fell at the final hurdle and was caught for an Ippon throw which resulted in a second place and a silver medal.

William also secured enough points for his Dan grade and like Arunas now only needs to complete the theory part to achieve the coveted Black Belt!