The National Championships were held on the Gold Coast from the 8th to 13th June. At this event, Budokan Judo Club made a significant contribution to NSW and Australian Judo.
- 34 Budokan Judo Club athletes and 6 officials participated in the Nationals. Our athletes participated in 37 mainstream divisions, 2 “No Limits” divisions, 1 Veteran’s division and 3 Kata divisions. The athletes won 18 medals in the mainstream age divisions: 4 Gold, 5 Silver and 9 Bronze.
- Adding the “No Limits” and “Veterans” divisions, the tally becomes 6 Gold, 5 Silver and 9 Bronze. Adding the 3 Gold and 2 Silver Kata results gives 9 Gold, 7 Silver and 9 Bronze medals. A number of our Junior and Senior Boys and Girls were also members of the very successful Junior Teams event.
The 34 athletes and 6 coaches/referees who participated at the Nationals represent 20% of Budokan’s membership, which is quite amazing for a large club of over 200 members. Since 2002, the club has participated 21 National Championships, with 502 of the club’s athletes contesting 723 divisions. These athletes have won 384 national medals comprising 141 Gold, 102 Silver, and 141 Bronze. Details for the 2023 Nationals follow: 6 (+ 3 Kata) Gold:
- Senior Boys/Girls – Nicholas Platonov
- Cadet Men/Women – Bianca Tandean, Max Zollinger
- Junior Men/Women – Bianca Tandean
- No-Limits Men/Women – Bernhard Tandean, Lynne McCredden
- Ju-No-Kata – Bernhard and Bianca Tandean; Junior Nage-No-Kata – Trent Black
- + NSW “A” Junior Boys & Girls Team, NSW Senior Boys and Girls Team
5 (+ 2 Kata) Silver:
- Junior Boys/Girls – Junning Mak, Leon Park,
- Senior Boys/Girls – Ethan Zhang, Eva Murkins, Dasha Platonov
- Katame-No-Kata – Bernhard and Bjorn Tandean
- + NSW “B” Junior Boys & Girls Team
9 Bronze:
- Junior Boys/Girls – Leon Park
- Senior Boys/Girls – Tamsin Black, Joy Ma
- Cadet Men/Women – Crosby Peake
- Junior Men/Women – Max Zollinger, Will Zollinger, Ali Yuldashev, Clarissa Vumbaca
- Senior Men/Women – Ali Yuldashev,
4th/5th Place:
- Junior Boys/Girls - Levi Murkins (2/4 wins), Isaac Murkins
- Senior Boys/Girls – Lilly Zollinger, Ben Zollinger
- Cadet Men/Women – Aaron Xu
- Veterans Men- Scott Young
7th /9th Place:
- Junior Men/Women – Aaron Xu
Participated:
- Junior Boys/Girls - Donny Zhang, William Dong, Daniil Savytskyi, Johnny Ma, Jeremy Tan
- Senior Boys/Girls - Marcus Liao, Tim Reshanov, Jaslyn Dhanoa
- Cadet Men/Women – Demin Cai, Jaeda Liao
- Senior Men/Women – Clarissa Vumbaca, Bianca Tandean
- Also Cherese Freeland representing NT who is currently training at Budokan won Silver in Junior Women.
- 6 Officials: State Senior Coach – Rob; State Junior Coach – Kerrye, State Senior Kyu Grades Coach – Liam, State No Limits Coach – Franz, State Kata Coach – Dale, State Referee – Lubo
- A few of us stayed for the training camp which was very beneficial with 140 on the mat. Congratulations #TeamBudokan. We had a very high level of participation at this Nationals for which the club takes great pride. We also faced a number of challenges this year, some athletes missing (Nathan, Josh, Phoenix, Jacinta), some athletes in new weight divisions and many athletes in the State Team new to this level of competition. So the plan is to do what we do best, to continue to grow and build as #WeFightAsOne.