International medal success for Shinken Shobu Ryu Judo Club

Pictured l-r: Paul McConville ( gold at Masters), Nigel O'Neill (double Kata silver), Damien O'Hare (Double Kata silver), Dermot McCaul (Head coach and Masters attendee)

Local Judo Club Shinken Shobu Ryu has enjoyed great success in recent weeks in both Shai and Kata competitions.

The British Masters Open took place in London on May 29 - the largest Masters event on these island’s. This year it hosted competitors from all over the world with 29 countries taking part with strong representation from Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Norway and the USA – with Paul McConville securing a gold medal.

Shai is the free fighting competition and Kata competition is the demonstration of prearranged techniques, which illustrate the principles of both attack and defence in Judo.

McConville was in action in the U81kg category and his first contest was against a cagey American. Paul dominated the fight from the beginning, eventually catching his opponent with a shoulder throw scoring waza-ari (seven points).

He then secured the fight with a hold down to win the contest. His next contest was against a tough Spaniard. Once again Paul took the fight to his opponent, scoring ippon (10 points) with a solid throw to win the contest.

Paul’s semi final was against an Englishman, which he won again by ippon throw putting him in the final against another American judoka. The fight went to ground very quickly, unable to secure a hold down, Paul made the transition to arm lock his opponent winning the contest by ippon and securing the gold medal.

Dermot McCaul was in action in the under 90kg category. Unfortunately for Dermot he had the National Ukrainian Champion as his opening contest. The Ukrainian proved too strong and indeed it was the Ukrainian who went on to win the category.

Dermot went through repechage with a chance to fight for bronze. He started off well against an English judoka, going ahead with a seven point score, however he was caught in the closing seconds just missing out on a chance at bronze but did give a very good account of himself in a category which featured both Irish, British National Champions and a European Champion who got bronze in what was one of the toughest categories of the day.

Nigel O'Neil and Damien O'Hare. (double silver winning Kata team).

Looking forward, Dermot and Paul will be in England again next month for the High Wycombe Masters.

Nigel and Damien medal at National Kata Championships

The previous weekend saw Nigel O’Neill and Damien O’Hare at the British Judo Council Annual National Kata Championships. They were competing in two of judo’s self-defence Katas.

Kime No Kata is a form of self-defence against both knife and sword attacks. While Goshin Jutsu is a more modern Kata which teaches the principles of defence against knife, stick and firearms.

The two Judoka have been practicing these kata for many years and on that day, they won silver medals for both Katas. Many people believed it should have been gold. Overall it was a great couple of weeks for the club.

All four judoka along with another of the club’s black belts Eugene McErlain are due to compete at the British Judo Association National Kata championships in September.

Total judo

Shinken Shobu Ryu is one of the very few clubs in Ireland that teaches Judo in its totality. The emphasis is not solely on competition but caters for people who just want to learn without the need for competition. Great emphasis is placed on Kata knowledge, while always being mindful that judo is a martial art which includes ten plus forms of Kata.