Masters & Welsh

Weekend success and failure followed Kendal Judo Club members.

Nick Hill, 2nd Dan, was the success story when he beat his Scottish opponent in the final of the Over 55 years Under 66 kilos British Masters Championships, held in Walsall, with a leg pickup (Morote Gari) for the Gold medal.
Nick followed up this success when he was asked to make up the numbers in the next weight category (U73 kilos). In his first fight he beat 4th Dan Stan Cotterell from Wales. Cotterell had beaten Nick in last year's competition so it gave the Kendal player great satisfaction as he hoisted him over his shoulder with Kata Guruma (Shoulder Wheel) a\nd followed it up with a Chest Hold (Mune Gatame) for the full point.… Nick continued his way to the final where Nick suffered a shoulder injury and had to withdraw.

It was not such a good day for Danny Harper and Michael Horley at the Welsh Open in Cardiff. Both players have just returned from a month long training tour of Japan. Although they got through the preliminary rounds without many problems, in the medal fights they both failed to adjust their techniques back to European style and came away empty handed. Kendal coach Mike Liptrot was extremely disappointed and has promised both players some "interesting" training for the next couple of weeks in the hopes they will do better in the Scottish Open in a couple of weeks time.