Judo players excel at BUCS Championships
18th March 2009The University of Bath Judo squad achieved their best results yet at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Championships winning both the men's and women’s team titles, both regional titles and a huge haul of individual medals.
In the individual advanced Dan grade competitions University of Bath athletes won all of the women’s competitions they entered and won six of the seven men’s titles.
The 35-strong squad captured a total of 35 gold, four silver and seven bronze medals. Some 83 per cent of the squad medalled over the two-day event, with 10 players remaining unbeaten over the weekend.
In the men's team championship, the team of Alex Goodrich (Sports Therapy), Emil Edmar (Sports Performance), Andy Burns (Coach Education), Tom Reed (Business Administration), and Alex Paske (Chemistry), achieved their target of winning every contest by the maximum 10 points, achieving a 50-0 score-line against Durham University and University of London in the pools, University of Manchester in the quarter-finals, Imperial College in the semi-finals, and Edinburgh University in the final.
In the women's team championship, the team of Katrina McDonald (Education), Megan Fletcher (Sports Performance) and Kate Walker (Pharmacy), beat Loughborough University, Cambridge University and Glasgow University in the pool, all by the maximum 30-0 score-line. In the semi-final they beat an experienced team from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff by 20-7, and underlined their dominance with a 30-0 defeat of the University of Plymouth in the final.
Individual British University champions for 2009 in the men's Dan grade categories were: u60k Gregg Varey (Sports Performance), u73k Jason Parsons (Sports Performance), u81k Tom Reed (Business Administration), u90k Andy Burns (Coach Education), u100k Adam Hall (Sports Performance), o100k Alex Goodrich (Sports Therapy).
In the women's Dan grade categories the gold medallists were: u57k Janine Johnson (Sports Performance), u63k Kate Walker (Pharmacy), u70k Gemma Gibbons (Sports Performance), u78k Katrina McDonald (Education), Louise Little (Sports Performance).
In the men's Kyu grade (intermediate) event, PhD student Benjamin Kumpfmueller won the hotly contested u73k category and went on to be unbeaten all weekend.
Silver medals were won by: u66k Alex Paske (Chemistry), u90k Danny Roberts (Sports Performance), u70k Megan Fletcher (Sports Performance), u78k Sarah Connolly (Sports Performance).
There were seven individual bronze medallists: u81k Eduardo Leonardo (Sociology), u90k Emil Edmar (Sports Performance), o100k Danny Murphy (Sports Performance), u90k Kyu Aydin Mallender (Engineering), u57k Rebecca Pierce (Coaching), u70k Marcon Bezzina (Sports Performance), u70k Mahana Clutha (Computer Science).
Squad members not selected for the University team championships competed as the South West in the regional team championships. The men beat the Midland Universities 90-10, and the Northern Universities 80-20 to win the Regional Trophy.
The women's regional south west team, again consisting of University of Bath reserves, contained five senior international players who completely dominated the Scottish universities and the Northern/Midland Universities both by a 50-0 score-line.
The coaching team was led by Juergen Klinger, who attended the event two days after knee surgery. He was supported by Jane Bridge-Charlot, Sandra Klinger and Yuko Nakano. The support team consisted of Andy Buckley (Physiotherapist), Matt Stanford (Osteopath) and Michelle Holt (Sports Science Support). Dr Mike Callan was the Head of Delegation.
Juergen Klinger said, "This year there is a World University Games in Belgrade and the University of Bath has clearly demonstrated that it is ready for that event. The players are very proud to represent their University and once again the hard work has paid off.
“Each year they set higher standards to follow,” he added.” We have a fantastic support from the University, and I would like to thank my fellow coaches, our medical back up and the student Sports Association organisers. Thank you also to BUCS and the tournament organising staff for a great event."