We are very proud that our young club earned it’s first national medal on March 17th 2012.
Ilya Kalugin, part of our Southampton Solent University Judo Club programme fought through injury to claim the silver medal at Britians highest student competition. Ilya’s grit and determination was on display as he powered his way into the final; spending all his time between fights with an icepack on his rapidly swelling knee.
In the closely fought final, Ilya was unfortunate to take a knock to his spine which cost him the advantage… his Russian opponent took the moment and caught Ilya for Ippon.
Ilya was joined by team mates Ken Iizuka and Elly Tiburco at the event.
Ken fought very well in the -73kg category with Ilya. This 60+ strong category was very tough and Ken was able to make it into the knock out stages before losing to a talented fighter from Anglia Ruskin University who was tipped as a favourite for the final.
Elly fought in the -57kg category and improved fight on fight, finishing her day with a wonderful Taio Toshi. Unfortunately, this was still not enough to make it out of her pool and into the knockout stages.
This is the first BUCS championships the club has been involved in and the great performances were beyond what could have been expected when the academic year started.
The team would like to thank Johny Watch and Sport Solent for their support in making it possible for the players to be at the event and compete.
Thanks also to the friendly players and coaches and to the officials on the day who helped the club enjoy it’s first visit to the BUCS championships
