Judo player wins gold

Woy Woy Judo Club competitor Craig O'Neill, who is also a member of Kariong Rural Fire Service, has returned from the World Fire Fighters Games with a gold medal for his judo.

In the competition held on Saturday, October 27, Craig fought competitors from Brazil and Sweden to win the Under-81kg combined age category.

In his first fight against the eventual silver medallist, Craig broke his Brazilian opponent's guard late in the fight and threw him using his signature shoulder throw, ippon seio nage.

In his second fight, Craig capitalised on his opponent's defensiveness to throw him backwards twice for the win.

The World Fire Fighters Games is in its 12th year and saw fire fighters from around the globe compete in more than 71 judo events around Sydney, including many of the Sydney Olympic venues.

The judo event saw competitors from as far afield as France, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, South Korea, Brazil, and Australia compete at the tournament venue in Bomaderry, south of Sydney.

Email, 13 Nov 2012

Lindy Simmons, Woy Woy Judo Club