Derry’s international success

Four Local coaches were the main medallist’s, with Bernard Sheerin winning the bronze medal in the masters under 66kg event after a fantastic performance at the event, the next player to take a silver medal in the masters under 100 KG section was Thomas Pearson who coaches local Lumen Christi college Judo club and Thornhill College, Thomas competed against some very strong opposition but was extremely unlucky not to be in the gold medal position.

Gavin Abel won a bronze medal in the Masters under 90 KG section after winning three fights very convincingly and narrowly missing out in the chance to be in the final losing out only in a split decision against the current British champion Gavin had to settle for a well-earned bronze medal.

Head coach of the Longtower Judo Club Jim Toland competed in the Masters under 81 KG section and after winning two fights by the maximum score of Ippon and then Losing his next fight on a flags split decision to reach the final against the current British champion, Jim went on to win the bronze medal in his section.

Terry Watt, the most experienced member of the Northern Ireland masters squad fought in a heavier weight category than normal but still managed to win a well-deserved bronze medal after losing to ex-British team Olympian Nick Cokataylo who went on to be commonwealth champion on a number of occasions including this one, but Terry not being one to disappoint competed in another international masters event the following week where he easily won the gold medal.

Longtower Junior players Jason Abel and Ashleigh Newton competing for Northern Ireland at their very first Commonwealth Event did not Disappoint when Jason competed in the under 60 KG section he beat the south African player by Ippon score and was very unfortunate to lose to a Northern Ireland player in the second fight and finished in a credible 5th position.

Sarah McDaid also in a very tough division defeated the welsh champion in the first round and lost to Stefanie Tremblay from Canada in the next round Sarah finished in ninth position and tremblay from Canada finished in the gold medal position.

Next to go in the senior men’s section was Jonathan McGowan competing in his frst commonwealth championships for Northern Ireland, Jonathan fought the Australian champion in his opening round with the maximum score of Ippon, in the next round he met a very strong opponent Jonny Purssey current British number two and fought really well against him only losing in the final half of the fight, Purssey went on to eventually win the gold medal, while McGowan finished in fifth position overall a fantastic result for the local judo players.

The club would like to make a very big thank you to the Londonderry District Sports Council and Derry City Council for their kind help towards our athletes in their preparation for this major international event.