A young blind judoka took on Olympic silver medallists Gemma Gibbons, Ray Stevens as well as London 2020 Olympian Euan Burton at the London British Open in Crawley and beat them all.

The event organised by Fighting Chance raised some much needed money toward buying a braille machine for a young blind judoka and gave him and his family a day to remember.

The Fighting Chance Project is a not for profit company that engages, encourages and inspires disadvantaged, vulnerable and disabled young people into the sport of judo.

Eight year old Louie, who attends Stevenage Judo club, took part in a “beat up a blackbelt challenge” inspired by Fighting Chance, and managed to throw, pin and hold the Olympians on the ground, even though he is only a red-belt.

Louie recently passed his grading to 1st Mon despite being registered blind due to a rare condition known as Septo Optic Dysplasia which means his optic nerve has not developed.

His twin brother Aiden leads a very different life in that he is able to use computers to find out information, write stories, draw pictures and watch and play video games.

For Louie to interact with the world like his twin, he requires an expensive piece of technology called a Humanware Braillenote Apex. As a creative person, one of Louie’s wishes is to use the device which acts as a word processor, book reader media player and voice recorder to write stories and lead an independent life like other children his age.

The event raised almost £2,000 but there is still more time to hellp Louie raise even more money by donating here www.virginmoneygiving/supportlouie.com 

Words by Donna Richardson.