The best judoka in Britain were crowned at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) on Saturday 13 December) after a long day of battle for the prestigious title of Junior British Champion, many of them will are back today (Sunday) to push for the old guard and go for a double at the Senior British Championships.

The competition was fierce as athletes also fought for places on the GB squad and during the day, old and new champions were made as some grasped gold for the very first time, others retained their titles and some returned to former glory.

In the junior women’s -44kg category Olivia Pieochota of JSC/Harris took gold, while Molly Harvey of Tonbridge settled for silver. Olivia Reid of Garioch and Aimee Thorpe of Sportif both gained bronze.

Kelly Staddon of Ford was crowned -48kg champion and Helen Forbes of Garioch was awarded silver. Keira Bateman of Pinewood and Harkirat Sekhon of Ealing both took bronze.

Gold in the -52kg category was awarded to Lele Nairne of Bradley Stoke, while Chelsie Giles of Coventry scooped silver. Bronzes went to Lanina Solley of Tonbridge and Stephanie Walker also of Bradley Stoke.

Lele said: “I am pleased to win. Last year I took the -57kg title, so to master a new weight feels great.”

Jodie Caller of Renzoku made no bones about claiming this year’s -57kg title champion as she rose from number three to number one, as Chloe Avis of Redbridge took silver plus Natasha Fraser of the Parks and Chloe Robyns-Landricombe of Team Bath gained bronzes.

The -63kg category was an interesting battleground that fielded some strong players and involved two second round fights.

Commonwealth Champion Jemima-Yeats Brown (-63kg) of the Centre of Excellence capped off a fantastic year, with a first time Junior British Championships gold. As the Ryecroft judoka, who trains full time at the British Judo Centre of Excellence stood on top of the podium, Lubjana Piovesana took silver and Prisca Awiti of Enfield and Eliish Walker both took bronze.

Jemima said: “I am really happy to win after a long hard day. It is the first time I have won the Junior British Championships, so it is a great feeling. I am looking forward to fighting for the senior title. It will be a lot tougher since at senior level the players are much stronger and they fight tactically, but I am ready for the challenge.”

Junior World medallist Ebony-Drysdale Daley of Erdington claimed the -70kg gold while Emma Reid of Redbridge settled for silver. Meanwhile, Shelley Ludford of Osaka and Leanne Henlon of Westcroft took bronze.

Ebony said: “I’m pleased to win but I am looking forward to tomorrow and I want to perform better judo.”

Twins Rachel and Sally Moon of Wolverhampton both shared the top spots of gold and silver in the -78kg category while Rachel Tytler of Pro Judo and Charlotte Newbold of Redbridge both took bronze.

Sally said: “Fighting together is hard, because we know what each other is going to do, but we have matured a lot and to meet each other in the final was good for us. We will be both fighting tomorrow too, so bring it on.

Rachel added: “We both started judo on the very first day and now we are here again at the British Championships. Our goal for the next year is to hit the European circuit and we want to make a mark on the category and be in the top two. We used to fight together when we were little but there was always a couple of kilos separating us. Now we are back pushing each other and it feels good.”

Michelle Boyle of Edinburgh became +78kg British Champion, Kelly Wright of Redbridge settled for silver and Kate Saunders of Pro Judo and Jessica Smith of Pontarddulais both took bronzes.

Michelle said: “It feels great to be British junior champion. I think with most of the training I have improved a lot on techniques and newaza. It felt great that I finished my final fight with a major hip throw (o-goshi) within a few seconds.”

Under 55kg champion Jack Murphy and silver to Connor Potts of Goole with bronzes to Henry Wakes of Shadsworth and Showgo Kimura of Ealing.

Neil MacDonald who divides his time between JudoScotland and the Centre of Excellence in Walsall, claimed the -60kg crown, while fellow CoE player Samuel Hall of Ryecroft who settled for silver. Isaac Hill of Kendal and George Goldsmith of Budokwai both took the bronze medals.

Eric Ham of Glossop defended his -60kg crown as Tom Johnson of Yoshin Ryu took silver. Daniel Powell and Alec Ranford both gained bronze.

The junior men’s -73kg title was awarded to William Johnson of Yoshin Ryu, Colin MacDonald of Judo Scotland took silver while Connor Ireland of WJA Academy and George Callum of Camberley took silver.

Stuart McWatt of Garioch became -81kg champion for the first time as Harry Lovell Hewitt of Stroud took silver and Oscar Di Domino of Jidel and Aiden Donald Grimsby gained bronze.

McWatt said: “I am feeling really good to win this year having lost out the previous three years so it feels good to win this year. I have moved up a year. I fought -73kg last year and had silver at cadets and bronze at junior level. I currently train at JudoScotland but will be coming to the centre from January. I am looking forward to fighting tomorrow, but some of the bigger names are here tomorrow such as Owen Livesey and Tom Reed, so I will give it a go but it is just to give it a go and see what happens.”

Rhys Thompson of Enfield captured the gold medal at -90kg and silver was awarded to Jamal Petgrave of Westroft and bronze to Liam Donkin of Edinburgh Club and Hary Boby of Osaka.

Rhys is currently based in Loughborough where he studies Sport and Exercise Science. During term time, he trains at Ryecroft in Nottingham.

Commenting on his win, he said: “I am feeling really happy and a little bit shocked. I didn’t expect to have medalled. The last few weeks have been tough what with juggling university work with training, however, it all paid off in the end.”

John Jayne of Moberley, who now competes in the United States of America took the -100kg gold, while in the +100kg category Valentino Volante took gold for JudoScotland, silver went to Wesley Greenidge of Enfield and bronze was awarded to Haris Kekic of Greenhouse EB Pheonix and William Todd of JSC.

Commenting on the day’s performance, coach Jamie Johnson said: “I am really pleased with the perfomances today. There has been some great judo all round and some great stand out matches. There have been some great performances in the -63kg category with some good judo and standouts from Lulu Piovesana and Jemima Yeats-Brown. As we expected in the men’s -60kg it was great to see Neil MacDonald and Sam Hall in the final four. Overall it was a fantastic day. I’m looking forward to seeing the juniors push on and step up to senior level.”

Some of the juniors returning to the mat today include: Michelle Boyle, Samuel Hall, Neil MacDonald, Jemima Yeats-Brown, Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz, Sally and Rachel Moon, Rhys Thompson, Peter Miles, Valentino Volante, Connor Ireland, Ebony Drysdale-Daley and Hakirat Sekhon.