Thursday 06 November 2008
The Budokwai enjoyed a successful weekend at the 2008 British Championships in Sheffield. Both Alex Farbon and Jonathon Purssey were crowned British Champions after a grueling day of competition. It was a great day for the Farbon household as Alex's younger sister, Charlotte took the silver medal.
Alex fought superbly well, winning 10 fights and throwing the defending champion for ippon with a massive te-guruma to capture the u73kg division title. It was the largest of all the weight groups and was fiercely contested. Alex, however, showed maturity and skill as well as supreme fitness to beat all the UK's top contenders.
Jonathon Purssey, ranked number 1 this year, won the u90kg division with some clever tactics and impressive ippon throws. He narrowly defeated club mate Bobby Rich (2006 British Open Champ) and threw Junior World bronze medalist, Luke Taylor. for ippon with a lightening sumi-gaeshi. Bobby Rich was extremely unlucky to finish outside the medals having been undefeated until the penultimate pool where he lost 2 matches. Jonathon beat Para-Olympic Bronze medalist, Sam Ingram, en-route to his first Senior title.
Charlotte, who took silver in the u48kg division produced some excellent attacking judo and will surely have many more opportunities to capture the gold at just 20 years of age.
James Gilmore was unable to replicate the form which saw him take a Bronze medal at this year's British Open and was severely hampered by a shoulder injury.
Jerome Purrier and Winnie Graham finished just outside the medals but will be heartened by their performances. Both fought with courage and skill in extremely competitive weight classes of u73kg and 66kg respectively.
eZ publish™ copyright © 1999-2009 eZ systems as