The city of Manchester was treated to three days of outstanding judo as competitors from the four Home Unions and Brazil competed at the 2015 Sainsbury’s School Games from Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 September.

Over 100 athletes from the Home Unions and Brazil got things started on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 September at the Armitage Centre with the individual competitions with England toping the medal table ahead of Scotland due to winning more gold medals overall.

There was a golden moment for Northern Ireland as they won their first ever gold medal with James Reid triumphing in the +81kg category.

Sunday saw the team competition take priority and it was England who took the title with an outstanding 8-0 victory over Scotland.

Matt Divall, England Programme Manager, paid tribute to Kerry Tansey and Paul Keeton for their hard work in putting on the event and was full of praise for the event and the competitors:

“I think it was a fantastic event, it was a great advert for British Judo. It was absolutely great, I love it as an event and long may it continue.

“It was a good opportunity for those players who maybe hadn’t made selection for international events but showed we have really good pre-cadet, cadet and junior players.

“The atmosphere is unrivalled. It’s one mat which means there’s a bit of a goldfish bowl effect. The attention is on one contest, one mat which brings different pressures. The Scottish are very vocal and are great support for their team but to win 8-0 in the final is pretty amazing. On the inside I was smiling.”

Full results can be found here.