There was a fantastic atmosphere at the British National Team Championships at Walsall on Saturday 5 July with some outstanding judo.

Scotland did the double by winning both the men’s and the women’s gold medals, in both cases edging out the Midlands 3-2 in the final.

The Scottish men’s team was particularly outstanding, with John Buchanan and Euan Burton rolling back the years in great style. The Midland Area were not to be denied a gold and despite being two players short, their girls team took the gold medal, beating Northern Home Counties 5-4 in the final, whilst the South romped home 7-4 in the boys final against Scotland.

For the first time ever, the National Teams was organised and run by a club – Kidderminster’s Samurai Judo Club – who ran an excellent competition. The venue was rocking with cheering from supporters of the teams, but it was also good to see how sporting everybody’s approach was, a great showpiece for judo.

Each of the categories had two pools. In the junior girls, the Southern Area started with a comfortable 6-3 win against the North-West, but then a much closer 5-4 win against Scotland to see them finish top of the pool. The North-West now faced Scotland to decide who went through second, and half way through the match it was 4-1 to Scotland and the North-West looked on the way out, but they won all of the last four contests to win 5-4 and claim the other semi-final place.

In the other pool, the Midlands had no players in the first two positions and so always started 2-0 down, but ten invariably pulled back to 2-2 because of the devastating pair of Darcie Hancocks and Yasmin Javadian, who both won all their matches. The Midlands then went on to beat London 5-2, then a closer 5-4 win against Northern Home Counties and a 7-2 win against the West, who were also several players short but fought hard. Northern Home Counties emerged as the other team qualifying for the semis, beating both London and the West 7-2.

Both semi-finals were close. The Northern Home Counties lost the first three matches against the South, but then rallied to end up 5-4 winners. The Midlands again started 2-0 down against the North-West but then won the next four and then Ebony Drysdale-Daley got the last win they needed for a 5-4 win.

The final was a repeat of the pool match between Midlands and Northern Home Counties. NHC led 2-0 at the start, but Darcie and Yasmin again pulled it back to 2-2. NHC then won two of the next three to put themselves, at 4-3, on the brink of victory, but a quick win for Ebony levelled it to 4-4 and then Rachel Moon won the last match to give the Midlands the gold medal.

In the boys, Scotland started slowly in pool 1 with a close 6-5 win against Northern Home Counties, but then settled into their stride and beat the North 9-2 and the Midlands 8-2. The Midlands and Northern Home Counties both had comfortable wins against the North and so faced each other for second polace in the pool. On paper, this looked a close match, but the Midlands ran out 7-4 winners with their middle order winning six on the trot to secure the win.

In the other pool, the South had three comfortable wins, 7-4 and twice 8-3, to top the pool, but second place was much closer. The West started well with a 6-5 win against London, but then agonisingly lost 6-5 to North-West, who then lost 7-4 to London. This left each of the three teams with one team win, so it went down to individual wins, with London going through as they had 15 individual wins whilst the other two were both on 14. Had it gone to individual points, West would have emerged on top, as they had 126 whilst both other teams had 123. It was that close.

Both semi-finals finished 7-4. London gained some good individual wins against Scotland, but the Scots ended up 7-4 winners. The Midlands were doing well against the South, with the match poised at 4-4 with just three matches to go, but then lost the last three to see South into the final against Scotland.

The final was perhaps won in the early stages, with South taking a 4-0 lead from the first four contests. Scotland hit back by winning four out of the next five to bring themselves back into contention at 5-4 down, but the South won the last two through Harry Boby and Peter Vincent to give them a 7-4 win and the gold medal.

In the senior women, Scotland and London both started with comfortable 4-1 wins against the South and then came up against each other to decide top spot in pool one. London edged this 3-2 to finish top of the pool, with Scotland qualifying in second place. In the other pool, the West lost narrowly 3-2 to the North-West, and then also lost 4-1 to the Midlands, which eliminated them. North-West then edged the Midlands out 3-2 to claim top spot in the pool.

So London and North-West, having topped the pools, looked favourites to go through to the final, but teams don’t work that way. The Midlands edged a 3-2 win against London whilst Scotland beat North-West, also 3-2, to leave Midlands and Scotland in the final. In the final Scotland won the first contest thrugh Helen Forbes, but Jodie Caller equalised, then Eliish Walker made it 2-1 to Scotland only for Ebony Drysdale-Daley to equalise again, but the Scots had Ashley Fleming as their last player and Rachel Moon could not match Ashley’s sheer power, so Scotland finished 3-2 winners.

And so to the senior men. In pool one, Scotland looked simply unstoppable, rotating their team around and still taking 5-0 wins with maximum points against both South and Northern Home Counties, with John Bucanan in particular just a joy to watch. The South qualified in second place after a 4-1 win against Northern Home Counties. The other pool was much closer, but the Midlands secured top spot by beating London 3-2, North 5-0 and North-West 4-1, with Max Stewart looking particularly good. The key match amongst the others turned out to be London versus the North-West, aftr both had defeated the North, and London won that 4-1 to go through second in the pool.

Both semi-finals were close and tense. Scotland edged out a 3-2 win against London, with Euan Burton winning in the last contest against Theo Spalding, whilst the Midlands similarly edged out South, again on the last contest as Zviad Tsiklauri threw Neil Schofield.

In the final, Josh Hill, who had fought well al day, threw everything at John Buchanan, but the Scot dealt with it all beautifully and took the win right at the end of the contest. Patrick Dawson made it 2-0 to Scotland despite the best efforts of Liam Ashton-Farr, who has also done well all day. Max Stewart pulled one back for the Midlands but Matthew Purssey settled it for Scotland. Unfortunately Euan Burton, after getting a knock earlier, had to concede against Zviad (that would have been a great final contest for the day) but still Scotland were champions in the men.

Andrew Haffner said: “Thank you to all the referees, table officials, first aid team (thanks in particular to Judy Maslem) and the stewards and support team, who were all applauded by the players and spectators at the end of the day.”

RESULTS

MEN

Gold: Scotland

Silver: Midlands

Bronze: London

Bronze: South

 

WOMEN

Gold: Scotland

Silver: Midlands

Bronze: London

Bronze: North-West

 

BOYS

Gold: South

Silver: Scotland

Bronze: Midlands

Bronze: London

 

GIRLS

 

Gold: Midlands

Silver: Northern

Home Counties

Bronze: South

Bronze: North-West

 

Words by Andrew Haffner. Photos Andrew Gallagher.