On a busy weekend of judo across the globe, the Veterans squad headed to Gran Canaria for this year’s edition of the Veteran European Championships.

An excellent of haul of 17 medals across the squad saw GB finish inside the Top 20 on the medal table in Spain, with all members of the female squad placing throughout the week.

Sophie Cox spearheaded the efforts with the squad’s sole Gold medal as she successfully defended the title she won in Glasgow last year, topping the podium in the F2 -57kg. Even more impressive was the stat that none of her opponents were able to register a single score against the Brit.

Samantha Chraniuk kept up her impressive record on the international Masters circuit with another Bronze medal to add to her collection.

Fiona Chan matched her Bronze medal achieved in Glasgow last year while Kylie Adams matched husband Mark’s result, also finishing in Bronze position.

Donna Riggs matched her result from last year as she took home a deserved Bronze.

Natasha Glassford narrowly fell short in her bid for Gold following an excellent Final against Germany’s Helen Schwenderling with a 2-1 waza-ari scoreline. Joanne Gregory also finished in silver medal position.

Masters circuit regulars Terrence Watt, Kay Andrews and Joyce Malley all added further Veteran European Championships medal to their increasing collection with a bronze medal each respectively. Watt showed grit to bounce back from semi final defeat against Ireland’s John Dennis. Malley dropped her opening contest but a waza-ari victory over Germany’s Astrid Machulik was enough to force her way onto the podium.

Over in the men’s side of the draw Kyle Perry and Colin Francis both took home Silver medals. It was a third consecutive Silver medal for Francis following second place finishes in Glasgow and Canun last year. Meanwhile, Perry bettered his World Championships result but couldn’t find a way past Russia’s Vladimir Berezovkii.

Paul Hirst backed up last year’s European Championships medal win with a further Bronze medal, coming unstuck against Portugal’s Nuno Antonio, following a fine morning on the mat.

Mark Costiff claimed Bronze following a tough opening morning against French opposition but bounced back well to defeat Sweden’s Kai Chiang to force his way onto the podium.

There were further Bronze medals for Fred Itiose and Daniel Murphy to cap a fine weekend for the squad.

Final placings:

Male:
Mark Adams	Bronze
Gavin Archibald	9th
Danny Bidgood	5th
Clive Biggs	5th
Stan Cantrill	7th
Mark Costiff	Bronze
Kevin Eve	7th
Colin Francis	Silver
Mehran Hafezi	5th
Paul Hirst	Bronze
Matthew Horner	7th
Fred Itiose	Bronze
Robert Majzel	7th
Daniel Murphy	Bronze
Kyle Perry	Silver
Phillip Smithson	5th
Peter Tully	5th
Terence Watt	Bronze
Ben Young	7th

 

Female:
Kylie Adams	Bronze
Kay Andrews	Bronze
Fiona Chan	Bronze
Samantha Chraniuk	Bronze
Sophie Cox	Gold
Natasha Glassford	Silver
Joanne Gregory	Silver
Joyce Malley	Bronze
Hazel Powell	5th
Donna Riggs	Bronze