Some of Britain’s top SN Judoka had a weekend to remember at the 2016 XVIII Beverwijk Judo Tournament at the weekend of 9-10 April.

Seven British judoka took home silverware from the Open European Special Needs (OESN) tournament on Saturday 9 April for Level 1 and 2 judoka including gold medals for Olivia Turner (-78kg), Chris Murphy (-90kg L1), David Woodland (+90kg L2) and Stuart Jackman (+90kg L1).

There were also silver medals for Thomas Mawdsley (-73kg L1) and Mikey Lomas (-90kg L1) while Connor Etherton also finished with a bronze medal in the -73kg Level 2 competition.

There was also a second gold on Saturday for Olivia Turner alongside Luke Mole in the Nage no Kata Level 2B competition

Stuart Jackman, who improved upon his silver from last year, was delighted with how the day went:

“Preparation had gone really well and I felt focused and in good shape on the day. My club have given me great coaching and encouragement prior to the competition and I had also been doing extra PT fitness sessions outside of judo to build explosive power and endurance.

“On the day I was really happy with my fitness and all the hard work paid off when I was fighting for gold and a Yuko down with 30 seconds. I knew I had some more in me so went for it and threw for Waza-ari and took the Osae-komi to win. I must also say the Great Britain SN coaches made a massive difference and I am pleased to get the results for them. The support all the players give to each other is amazing too.

“In terms of competitions over the next year, I am still looking at a few internationals but the one I am looking at personally is the British SN Open at Stoke Mandeville on the 27th August. It was a great event last year with many nations competing and I am sure it will be the same again this year.”

Sunday’s BENG tournament saw even more British competitors in action with 25 GB Judoka taking part in total. The BENG tournament is more about recreation than competition with Levels 1-5 competing in the Juniors and Levels 3-5 in the Seniors and categories based on judo ability to ensure everyone gets a decent number of contests.

In total nine British judoka finished with gold medals in their respective pools including Olivia Turner with her third of the weekend. There were also top of the podium finishes for Chris Murphy, Stuart Jackman, Philip Brodie, Skye Westwood, Dan Jeffries, Kyle Barlow, Sean McKellar and Holly Tadman.

GB Special Needs Judo coach Ken Thorne spoke about how he proud he was of all the squad for their performances over the weekend.

Full results can be found here: http://www.specialneedsjudo.nl/results-beverwijk-xviii/

If you’d like to find out more about Special Needs Judo in the UK contact:

Jo Imrie joimriejudo@gmail.com; Andrew Scott andy@cornwall-judo.fsnet.co.uk and Ken Thorne Ken.THORNE@oxinst.com

Or find your nearest local club: https://bja.platform81.com/find-a-club

(Photo credit: Colin Mawdsley)