The Kent International held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre was held last weekend. It is a very strong event with many foreign Judoka in attendance.
The Pinewood Judo Club had a small squad of twelve fighting, all were on the young side but they produced 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals over the two day event.
In the yellow belt section they had two girls fighting, Niamh Whyte and Lara Hewitt. They both fought superbly winning a gold medal each, Niamh at under 52 kgs and Lara under 57 kgs.
In the section for the top grade fighters Holly Eccles won bronze at under 40 kgs. Kiera Bateman at under 44 kgs and Crissie Webb in the under 70 kgs weight group both did very well, they won a gold medal each. Crissie was in particularly good form, she won the final with a very fast shoulder throw.
Marcus Trafford won a silver medal at under 55 kgs and Olivia Spellman took bronze under 52 kgs.
On Sunday Olivia Spellman won the silver medal at under 52 kgs in the youth section. Olivia was winning the final but fatigue from the day before was a problem and she had to be satisfied with the silver medal.
The Pinewood Judo Club squad were rather young for this event because the section is open to all male and female Judoka up to under 21 years of age. The Pinewood Coach, Don Werner was pleased with the results because it showed his Judoka were capable of holding their own with some very top fighters. The Dutch clubs were out in force with some very capable fighters in both the young men’s and women’s sections.