Simmons misses judo podium
Woy Woy Judo Club's Daniel Simmons narrowly missed a podium finish at the 2012 National Judo Championships held on June 9 and 10 in Wollongong.
Simmons, 26, had four fights and went two for two in the Men's Under-73 kg categories.
"I was off to a flying preparation for this year's nationals," Simmons said.
"I was training hard and my fitness was strong.
"Then about eight weeks prior to the championships I tore the AC in my right shoulder during training.
"Side lined in a sling for about four weeks, I undertook constant physiotherapy that saw me back training earlier than expected," he said.
The draw at the Titles consisted of 14 players in his weight category, with three fights to the final.
In the preliminary rounds, Simmons won his first fight by Ippon (Full Point) in the first 30 seconds against the Northern Territory.
His second fight went to full time of five minutes which he won by Wazari (Half Point) and penalties against his Victorian opponent.
In the semi-final, Simmons ranked number three in Australia in his weight category and was up against the number two ranked judoka, Darren Rogers from Western Australia.
Simmons used dominating grips and moved well, attempting a Seoi Nage (shoulder throw) which saw him caught with an arm lock in ground work, causing him to submit.
This then put him into the Bronze Medal fight, against last year's National Champion and number one ranked Judoka in the division from Victoria.
"This was going to the toughest match of the day for me.
"We had trained together a lot at National training camps, but never met in competition," Simmons said.
"I knew this was going to go all the way to full time, preparing myself mentally to concentrate on seeing it through to a podium finish."
Having NSW State Coach and 2004 Athens Olympian Morgan Endicott-Davies in the chair and the support of his dad, Danny Simmons, who was also Woy Woy chief instructor, assistant NSW state coach and 1968 Oceania Silver Medallist, on the sidelines for this match, Simmons came out firing off grips and moving well.
In the second minute of the fight, the Victorian caught Simmons and threw him for a Wazari (Half Point) with a Tai Otoshi (Body Drop).
Simmons quickly switched back on, listening closely to Morgan to keep attacking and put the pressure on.
For the next three minutes, that was what he did.
The Victorian ended up with three stalling penalties, which evened the score, but with 20 seconds to go in the fight, Simmons was given a stalling penalty near the edge of the mats giving the Victorian the match.
Danny Simmons said: "I felt for Daniel.
"He was so close, but I'm very proud of him, to take the 2011 National Champion to almost full time and only to lose by a penalty is a great achievement."
This fifth place ranking slipped Daniel back to fifth on the National Table, but only two points separated him from the top four.
When asked about the year ahead Simmons said: "I have a few more comps this year and will be pushing hard to get better results in order to increase my ranking."
"My focus is selection to the OJU World Cup in Samoa and hopefully the Tokyo Grand Slam later this year.
"My ultimate goal is the 2013 World Judo Championships in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil."
Media Release, 25 Jun 2012
Lindy Simmons, Woy Woy Judo