Judo success in Tasmania

Woy Woy Judo Club had nine representatives in individual age and weight categories represent the local area at the 50th Anniversary Australian Judo Championships held in Launceston, Tasmania, on the June long weekend.

In the under 16 years division, there were 129 competitors divided into age and weight divisions. The first to compete was green belt Courtney Wye in the girls under-16 under-44kg division.

Courtney had two fights against the Northern Territory and NSW winning both with an ippon [10 points] taking the gold medal.

Green belt Kayla Wells fought in the girls under-16 under-57kg against Queensland, SA and Tasmania.

Kayla fought the Tasmanian girl for the bronze medal and was leading by seven points when the Tasmanian initiated a throw that Kayla countered but landed on her back first, which gave the 10 points to the Tasmanian.

Kayla is now ranked fifth in Australia.

Blue belt Naomi Cole and green belt Rebecca Steward fought in the girls under-16 under-70kg division, both having four fights.

Naomi won all four fights with ippons [10 points] to claim the gold.

Rebecca fought for the bronze medal against Tasmania and took out the match with a Tai Otoshi [body drop] to win.

Brown belt Jacqui Steward competed in the girls under-16 and the Junior Women's having six matches in all.

Green belt Kurtis McCabe in the Boys under-16 under-38kg fought Victoria and South Australia.

Graeme Wye's division, Boys under-16 under-73 kg was run as a repechage due to the large number of competitors, though all three were unplaced.

On the Monday, green belt Kieren Handley had five matches in the boys under-13 under-35kg, which was split into two pools.

Kieren made it through to fight off for the bronze but was beaten in the last three seconds. Kieren is ranked fifth in Australia.

Green belt Jordan Smith had three matches in the Boys under-13 under-55kgs and took out the bronze medal.

The final results were two gold, two bronze and two fifth placing in Australia.

Woy Woy's chief instructor Danny Simmons said he was happy for the competitors and said "Just to represent is great, a medal is a bonus."

Press release, June 24 Lindy Simmons, Woy Woy Judo Club