The exclusive event was attended by 150 spectators, including Sir Clive Woodward and the Mayor of Surrey Heath, Tim Dodds.  The evening kicked off with veteran TV presenter Richard Keys interviewing 3 time Olympian and 7 time World Medallist Karina Bryant, one of GB’s best hopes for an Olympic medal for judo in London this year.  Next up Nathon Burns and Danny Williams put on a memorable display for the crowd which drew gasps of admiration as they demonstrated exactly why judo is one of the most skillful and dynamic sports.

The first match of the evening was Danny Williams against his German opponent Tobias Schirra in the -73kg category.  As the fight began there was little to choose between the two fighters but Williams’ superior fitness showed in the final minute as he scored with two big throws to take the first win of the night.  Next up was Frazer Chamberlain who made short work of Max Klyk in -90kg, winning by a huge throw in under a minute.

Samantha Lowe, who has recently returned from a 9 month layoff due to injury, had perhaps the hardest task as she took on World Cup Gold Medallist Barbara Bandel at -78kg.  It was a gruelling fight, being stopped at one point for Lowe to wipe away the blood after receiving a blow to the mouth, but eventually this close match was won by the German representative.

The -66kg clash was another closely matched bout between British Championship Silver Medallist Nathon Burns and German Championship Silver Medallist Frank Conrad.  The two fighters put on an enthralling show for the crowd, displaying fast paced and exciting judo, but in the end there was nothing to choose between them and the result was a drawn contest. This left the score as 2-1 to Camberley going into the final contest, so the pressure was on Tom Davis to bring it home as he took on Sebastian Apitz in -81kg.  In the end he won the match with ease, making the final score 3-1 to Camberley Judo Club and retaining their 3 year unbeaten run at this event.

The evening concluded with a raffle and a series of auctions for those attending to bid to financially support the club’s top judoka, which will be utilised for living and training costs.

The event raised a phenomenal £22,000 for the Surrey Going For Gold Charity.  Camberley Coach Luke Preston said, “The money raised is fantastic and benefits individual players with training and competition costs as well as the club as a whole.  This year was the best event ever and I’d like to thank everyone that supported us”.

Camberley Judo Club is still looking for support for players in the lead up to London 2012 Olympics and beyond. If you are interested in becoming involved with the charity in this unique and exciting Olympic period please contact us for more information info@camberleyjudo.co.uk

Dusseldorf  German Grand Prix- 18^th & 19^th February 2012

Karina Bryant ranked 14 in the World faced American Nina Cutro-Kelly first fight in this Grand Prix event. Bryant confidently started the day throwing for ippon with a lovely  uchi mata and moved in to the second round against higher ranked Mexican Zambotti. Karina continued her winning streak beating Zambotti after some dubious referees decisions in golden score to get into the quarter final against  Polavder from Slovenia. A long term rival and difficult opponent tactically to fight for tall Bryant, it was going to be a challenging contest. Karina lost on a 5 point score and Polavder went on to win the Gold that day and Bryant had to settle for 5^th place.

Surrey Millennium League Round 1 Red & Yellow Belts- 19^th February 2012

Nine Camberley Juniors made the trip to Redhill, for the first round of the Surrey Millennium League, returning with nine medals, four Golds, two Silvers and three Bronzes.

First up was the sole female judoka Pheonix Govey-Gray. Pheonix was the only entrant in her weight (under 36Kgs) and so fought a girl from the weight group above and made light work of her scoring an early Yuko and then an impressive Ippon throw to take the Gold medal.

In the boys, Jack Baxter won Gold by default in the U24 Red Belt boys as he was also the only entrant in this category. However the organisers put him in with the yellow belt U27kgs and he fought well to win one of the two fights he had against bigger and more experienced opponents.

In the U34kg Red Belts (the largest group of the day) Louie Baylis fought superbly winning his first three fights by Ippon and narrowly losing in the semi-final having been a Wazari up and 1 second away from a second Wazari with a hold down, when his opponent escaped. He was caught with an Ippon throw late in the fight by an opponent who to his credit never gave up.

The U38Kgs Red Belts saw Joseph Mitchell take to the mat. Joseph was younger and smaller than the other boys in this group and narrowly lost his opener in a hard fought battle with the eventual gold medalist. Undeterred, Joseph went on to win his next two fights with impressive Ippon throws, the first of which was a spectacular O-GOSHI and without doubt the throw of the day. The silver medal was just reward for his efforts.

Making their competitive debuts for Camberley were novice fighters Mikey Haclin, and brothers Piotr and Dom Plaskota. Mikey and Piotr fought each others for the spoils in the U60 Red belts and a hard fought contest saw Piotr catching Mikey with a good Osoto-Gari late in the fight to take Gold. Both went on to give fighters from the weight categories above a good run for their money with Mikey losing in Golden score to an + 66kg fighter and Piotr gaining another impressive win. Dom was in a round robin pool of 5 in the U50Kg Red belts and showed great promise by winning two of his four fights with Ippon throws and made a good account of himself in the other two fights against opponents who were vastly more experienced than him.

In the Yellow Belt boys Tom Kirk was representing Camberley at U30kgs and won all of his three fights by maximum score to take Gold and add to his impressive medal tally. T.K. demonstrated excellent all –round Judo scoring with two Ippon throws and a hold down. His second Ippon throw was a lovely Harai-Goshi which even he seemed pleased with! Luke Smith, who usually fights along side T.K. at U30kgs, narrowly missed the weight and found himself up against it, in the U34kgs Yellow Belt category. Despite a positive attitude, and staying true to his attacking style, he was beaten by two much larger boys but his efforts nonetheless brought him a deserved Bronze medal.

All the Junior Judokas showed great promise and were a credit to their club. They can all be very proud of their achievements.

To finish off a busy year Karina Bryant embarked on an Asian tour. First stop was Tokyo Japan. After some preparation training and acclimatization Karina competed in the last prestigious Grand Slam event of the year. An important event for her to pick up more World ranking points. She drew a Russian first and started the day with an impressive big counter technique and threw her opponent for maximum points. This brought her into the quarter finals against formidable opponent Mika Sugimoto of Japan. Karina was unable to find a way past Sugimoto, who was the eventual gold medallist, and had to settle for 5^th place this time.

Qingdao Grand Prix 16^th -18^th December 2011

Final stop of the tour was China for the Qingdao Grand Prix. Karina had a busy day ahead of her. First to fall victim to Bryants power was China’s Rui Wang, Karina threw her for ippon with a counter technique. Swiftly followed by Italy’s Lucia Tangorre, also thrown for a full point, this time with an hip throw. Bryant continued her good form in her third bout strangling the Kazakhstan fighter into submission and moving her into the semi final against the world number 2, Qian Qin of China. A very intense fight but not the results Karina was hoping for, finishing the day with a well earnt bronze medal.

World Masters Almaty Kazakhstan- 14^th- 15^th January 2012

This event is by invite only to the top 16 fighters in each weight in the world. Only two GB fighters qualified for this event, Euan Burton and our CJC fighter Karina Bryant. Again this event would be very important to pick up more World ranking points to ensure more favourable seeding in the future event (including the Olympic Games).

Karina faced Mexican Vanessa Zambotti in her first bout. She won by a powerful uki goshi throw for the maximum score ending the fight in just 1 and a half minutes. Next she faced a rematch with Chinese Qian Qin who she lost to the previous month. A much closer match this time, Karina was only losing by half point but in the last 20 seconds was caught again. Qin went on to win the tournament and Karina finished with 5^th place.

Matsura Dutch Open Espoir- 15^th January 2012

Steely lone ranger Sarah Hill went it alone in the Dutch Open Espoir tournament. She impressively won 4 fights to get to the final but her winning streak didn’t continue unfortunately. Sarah came away with the silver medal and some more valuable lessons learnt in international fighting.

British Trials- 20^th-21^st January 2012

In the Junior section we had 3 fighters representing CJC. Making their debut at this event was Stuart Brown and Sarah Hill. Both fighters fought very well but lost their contests, neither looked far off the standard and will be back next year- watch out!

Elite team member Lasha Lekishvilli was competing in the -66kg. At last year’s in lasha won the silver medal hopes were high he could go one better. He certainly didn’t disappoint and won a very impressive 8 fights including beating close rival Danny Lyon to win the Gold medal. British Junior National Champion! Well done.

In the Senior section we had more competitors and were hoping for a few medals. Going through the weights, our lightest representatives was Nathon Burns at -66kg. He dispatched of 4 strong fighters and only narrowly lost to Colin Oates a European bronze medallist, finishing the day with a silver medal and ranked GB no2.

-81kg fighter Tom Davis had a tough day and didn’t seem to have lady luck on his side, some unfortunate decisions saw him lose 2 fights and win 3 giving him the bronze medal.

20 year old Josh Butler stepped up to face the top senior fighters in the country at -100kg. He won 3 and lost 3 fights and came away with the Bronze.

Finishing off the day was heavy weight Matthew Clempner in the +100kg category. He had won 5 fights and then faced nemesis Chris Sherrington, Clempner dominated the fight, claimed the Gold medal and title of British Champion.

Commonwealth Tournament- 24^th January 2012

CJC just had two fighter in the Commonwealth tournament held in Cardiff, Wales. Sarah Hill in the Cadet -63kg and Lee Shinkin in the Senior -73kg. Sarah beat South African competitor Jeanne Bester in her first match of the day but unfortunately narrowly lost in golden score to her England rival Lulu Piovesana, earning her the silver medal. Lee Shinkin started by beating an Australian fighter but then lost to a Canadian seeing him drop into the repecharge to fight for bronze. He pulled back from the previous disappointing loss and beat the other England representative Jon Drane claiming the bronze medal.

Tbilisi Georgia World Cup- 28-29^th Jan 2012

Busy fighter Danny Williams found himself in yet another corner of the World, this time Tbilisi Georgia. The young fighter drew an Azerbaijani competitor 1^st fight, and confidently won with a submission from an armlock. This moved him through to face an experienced Polish competitor, former World and European Bronze medallist, it was going to be a challenging fight. Williams stepped up to the challenge and threw his opponent flat on his back for an outright 10 point win, the equivalent of a knock out in boxing. With his confidence boosted he went into the next fight against China’s Wei Lui, a very close fight saw William’s edged out by a small penalty forcing him to take a risk which unfortunately didn’t pay off and he conceded a 5 point score against him and lost the match. No medal but an impressive performance and lots of experience for Danny to build on in future events.

South Coast Open – Green Belts & Under- 29^th January 2012

-27kg – Fighting up a weight from his normal weight (-27kg was the lightest weight at this competition!) Jack Baxter gave a brave performance and fought well but lost both of his fights. Just wait until he puts on a bit of weight…!!

-30kg – Tom Kirk won 3 fights and lost 1 with some impressive newaza and a lovely Ouchi throw, earning him the silver Medal.

-30kg – Luke Smith won a fantastic 3 fights and only lost to the eventual gold medallist in Golden score. His outstanding performance won him the bronze medal.

-38kg – Ben Baxter convincingly won 2 fights by big 10 point throws (the equivalent to a knock out in boxing!), but unfortunately didn’t maintain the dominance in the ground work and lost the semi final fight, he finished the day with the Bronze Medal.

U50kg – Bodie Blacklock – Bronze medal.

U36kg Pheonix Govey-Gray  and Sheree Fleming at u57kg both got Gold medals.

Midland Area Age band- 28^th-29^th January 2012

We had 5 CJC fighters representing in the Midland Age bands. In the youngest category we had Oliver Baldwin who fought in the -46kg, he fought well but lost both of his fights In band B was Oliver Bergqvist & Toby Roberts in the -46kg and -42kg respectively. Oliver won 3 hard fights and lost 1 earning him the bronze medal. Toby also won 2 hard fights and lost 2 fights which wasn’t quite enough to get a medal this time. In the older group C was Sarah Hill at -63kg, she fought very well and won 3 fights including beating a close rival that she lost to in the Commonwealth tournament the previous week, she did lose 1 fight, giving her the bronze. In band D was Stuart Brown, he was fighting in the -73kg category. Very disappointingly he was quite unwell on the day, despite this he managed to win 1 fight but lost 2.

Paris Grand Slam- 4^th – 5^th February 2012

Only small team was selected by the BJA to take part in this prestigious event, from CJC it was only Karina Bryant that was given the honour. Bryant started the day of strong beating home fighter Andeol of France in the first round, moving her on to face a Tunisian rival who she beat by wazari in golden score. Karina now faced world ranked number 1 Tachimoto of Japan in the quarter finals. The CJC fighter was leading the fight with a 5 point score, a momentary lapse of concentration 4 minutes in from Bryant which Tachimoto capitalised on lost her the fight. Karina still came away with an impressive 5^th place at the first Grand Slam of the Olympic year.

Austria World Cup- 11^th – 12^th February 2012

Danny Williams, Nathon Burns, Tom Davis and Matthew Clempner all travelled with coach Luke Preston to Oberwart in Austria for another well attended World Cup event.

In -66kg Nathon Burns drew an American 1^st fight, a disappointing performance meant Burns was stopped at the first hurdle and didn’t progress into the second round. Danny Williams, more experienced at this level of tournament was in the -73kg along with 65 other judoka from around the world all vying for the Olympic qualification points. Williams beat Azerbaijani Orujov in his 1^st match only to narrowly lose to a Kazakhstani fighter in the 3^rd round. Next heaviest CJC competitor was Tom Davis in the -81kg, he beat a Columbian followed by a French fighter to face Takamatsu of Japan in the 3^rd round. A very intense fight, but the Japanese fighter put a stop to the CJC warriors winning streak and put him out of the tournament. Last to step upto the mat in the +100kg was Matthew Clempner, he had just the one fight against a French competitor which he lost.

Northbrook mini- mon orange & under – 12^th February 2012

Two of our mini CJC warriors headed off to Kent for the Northbrook mini-mon competition. Tom Kirk competed in the -30kg and won 3 fights, one by a 10 point throw and 2 with pins to get him into the final. He fought very well but didn’t manage to overcome older more experienced fighter so came away with a well-deserved Silver medal. Jack Baxter was in the -24kg category and smashed 2 opponents with 10 point throws but also lost 2 fights, putting up a brave fight against the gold medallist only losing on a 5 point throw. Bronze medal for Jack- well done.

The Black-tie evening was introduced to raise funds for the Surrey Going for Gold Charity which supports the star-laden Camberley Judo Club squad. Camberley Olympians and future Olympians such as Karina Bryant, Sam Lowe, Danny Williams, Nathon Burns and Sophie Johnstone could all be members of the Elite team that will face the German team. The evening again promises to be a spectacular one with a champagne reception, four course meal, various displays and the team match. All funds raised will go to supporting Camberley Judo Club and it’s athletes.

Please click here to download invitation and booking form

Tom Kirk looking as cool as a cucumber and completely unphased by the level of the competition (actually he was probably unaware of the level!) kicked off the action in the -30kg category. It was a very hard fight from the start and TK got countered for a wazari, and was looking vulnerable in tachiwaza. Not to worry because he performed some brilliant newaza and held his opponent down for ippon and the win! A great start to the day. Second fight he again dominated on the ground and turned his opponent over and held him to secure his second ippon of the day. This saw Tom progress to the final against a bigger looking lad. He went out positively but got thrown for ippon giving him a well deserved silver medal.

Next up was Louie Baylis in -34kg, another young promising fighter looking to gain some competition experience. He fought very well but lost both of his matches, next time Louie!

Oliver Baldwin competed in the -42kg, he had a hard first 2 fights and lost them both, but came back strong in his 3^rd fight. It was a very close intense match which could have gone either way but Oliver countered his opponents Osoto gari with a beautiful Osoto gari himself and threw for ippon!

Next called to the mat was Ben Baxter in the -38kg, he started confidently with some good gripping skills and controlled the fight until he was ready to finish it with an ippon throw. Second fight was very close but Ben was narrowly beaten. Looking for revenge he was a man on a mission (as his photo purchased on the day proves- crazy face!), he performed a lovely ippon throw and won the bronze medal.

In the -50kg we had Bodhi Blacklock, definitely the smiliest (maybe not a word) competitor, he had two very tough fights and lost them both. However in good Camberley spirit he was still smiling at the end of the day and had won a silver medal.

Toby Roberts was next to show everyone what he could do. In the – 42kg he used some very good gripping skills and movement to throw his partner for wazari and then hold him down. First match out of the way. Second fight was won by ippon throw, another opponent dispatched. Third fight was very tough but he concentrated on his game plan and dominated the fight eventually winning by ippon hold down, another one bites the dust. He was now in the final, it was an intense fight and Toby had to dig deep. It went all through normal time and golden score without any scores. Both fighters had given it their all, but Toby won by decision and split flags, you can’t get much closer match than that. Gold to Toby Roberts- well done.

Ready to finish the day on a high was Oliver Bergqvist in -46kg category, he had a slightly unlucky start when the referee awarded an ippon against him for falling off the wrong side of his opponent when trying to perform a counter technique. More determined than ever Oliver smashed his next opponent with a beautiful Koshi guruma for ippon and then perhaps even more impressive was his standing ippon seonage which his third opponent found himself on the end of and also thrown for ippon. Bronze for Oliver, some nice techniques performed and also some valuable lessons learnt.

Well done again to everyone who fought and thank you to everyone who supported, it was a pleasure to watch our up and coming fighters and to part of the CJC crew!

Matt Clempner was our only male, competing in the +100kg, he had a bye and then drew Brazilain fighter Rafael Silva ranked number 8 in the World. He lost to the Brazilian and was out of the tournament.

Our last chance of glory lay with Karina Bryant our +78kg competitor. 1^st to fall victim to our CJC warrior was Italian Lucia Tangorre, next Bryant faced long term rival Konitz of Germany. Karina looked a class or two above her and twice as strong, throwing her with a massive ura-nage for ippon. Things were looking very positive and she now faced world number 2 Qian Quin from China in the semi final. A very close fight and in her opinion,  Karina felt it was the  best performance against this particular fighter as yet. Although she didn’t win this fight, there were some very positive points to take from the day, some vital world ranking points in the bag again and a bronze medal! Well done.

Matthew Clempner was defeated first fight against a Mongolian in +100kg. Leaving Karina Bryant to go for glory for CJC. A very low entry meant after winning her first contest against a Mongolian Karina was in the final against a Turkish competitor. She won the final and got the Gold medal and some very important World ranking points. Good work!

Under 12’s

-24kg- Jack Baxter- Gold

-30kg- Tom Kirk & Nathan Fullard- Bronzes

-34kg-Louie Baylis- 5^th

-38kg- Ben Baxter & Ben Harrison – Bronzes

-42kg- Oliver Baldwin- Silver

-50kg- Bodie Blacklock- Gold

-32kg – Phoenix Govey- Gray –Gold

Over 12’s

-55kg- James Preston-Howes- Silver

We had two CJC players in -73kg, Lee Shinkin and Danny Williams, both vying for a European Cup medal. Lee lost against a Dutch lad and had an early finish to his day. Danny had a more promising start beating a Swiss fighter but then losing to the eventual Gold medallist next round, giving him 7^th place.

Next up was Tom Davis in his usual -81kg, his determination and relentlessness got Tom through four fights like Nathon to get himself in the final. Facing a French lad could Tom go one better and bag the gold? Yes he could! A convincing win gave him the title of Swedish Open Champion 2011. Well done.

New to the senior European Cup level tournament was Frazer Chamberlain in -90kg. He put in a solid performance and won his first fight against a Russian, moving him in to a contest against a Swiss. Frazer showed much promise but was overcome by the Swiss fighter who went on to win the tournament.