Last Sunday 14 of the Pinewood Judo Club’s lower grade junior fighters were in action at the South Coast red belt championship. The event, held in the Worthing Leisure Centre, was well attended and the organisers divided the Judoka into groups of four and five. This gave them three or four fights each, making the travelling well worth while.
The 14 strong Pinewood squad brought home 8 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals.
The gold medals were won by Noah Jones, Ruben Lord, Jay Bennett, Tobias Trafford, Daniel Franklin, Oliver Young, K-C Franklin and Niamh Whyte.
The four silver medals were won by Alfie Flint, Christopher Beswick, Phoebe Deacon and Samuel Southan. The two bronze medals went to Tobias Chapman and Joseph Southan. Coach Don Werner is quite pleased with these results and it is likely that two of these children will be considered for their yellow belts; based on their performances today.
Also on Sunday three of the club’s top junior girls were fighting in the Bedminster Championships. Jade Eccles, seen in the photograph won the gold medal at under 57 kgs in the senior section. In the under 16 years junior section Holly Eccles won gold in a combined 44 kgs weight group and Kiera Bateman also won gold at under 48 kgs.
Jade Eccles then fought in the youth section under 21 years in an open weight group and won the bronze medal. Kiera Bateman also fought in this section at under 44 kgs and won the silver. This rounded off an excellent day of Judo for the Pinewood squads.