Junior European Cup, Paks, Hungary –(12 – 13 July)In the last Newsletter I reported on our 4 Juniors (U/21s) who had competed in the Prague Junior European Cup (EC). Since then, they participated in an international camp which followed the competition and then moved to Paks, Hungary for the Paks Junior EC. Report follows:
- Max Zollinger – Max started well against his HUN opponent with Tai-Otoshi and Tani-Otoshi attacks. A fairly even match at the halfway point with Max 1 Shido down. He was then caught with Ippon-Seoi-nage for Yuko after which Max applied strong pressure forcing a Shido on HUN but was unable to get the score back.
- Bianca Tandean – In Bianca’s match with her SVK opponent, she struggling initially conceding 2 Shidos at the hallway point. Bianca then attacked with Tai-Otoshi and followed up on the ground scoring Yuko from a hold down which gave her the win. Her match against ITA was very even with a Shido each going into Golden Score time. Bianca conceded her second Shido but at 2m GS it was 2 each and another 3m later ITA conceded her third Shido putting Bianca into the Quarter-Final against ISR. ISR proved to be very strong and was always threatening. At 1 minute in, she attacked strongly with Sode scoring Ippon. ISR went on to win the event. In the repechage against the GER, Bianca was caught with some good footwork thrown with Deashi. A solid competition from Bianca with 2 wins for 9th place.
- Clarissa Vumbaca – Against her SUI opponent, Clarissa was active with her Ashi-Waza and defended well on the ground. She attacked with another strong Ouchi-Gari this time scoring Yuko. The match was quite even with Clarissa working well in Ne-Waza but with a minute to go SUI countered Clarissa’s Ashi-Waza evening the score. Just before full-time, Clarissa was countered again for Waza-Ari and submitted from a Strangle. Good intensity overall and an improvement on last week.
- Mackenzie Cook –Mackenzie fought ROU quite aggressively in Ne-Waza but was slightly behind the pace with numerous drop attacks from ROU in Tachi-Waza. She conceded a Yuko in the second minute and in the last-minute Mackenzie worked hard but conceded a Shido and ROU dropped under her with Seoi-Nage for a second Yuko after which Mackenzie piled on the pressure attacking with a very good Uchi-Mata but was unable to level the score.
Another tough day at the office for our guys but also showing that they are competitive and that the margins between winning and losing are quite small. An international camp followed the competition and our guys did very well. Unfortunately, however, both Clarissa and Mackenzie sustained injuries which meant that they were unable to complete the camp and came home early for proper assessment and treatment. They are now doing well.