Judokas throw their way to the top
Doryoku Judo Club's judokas excited to come home with some gold.
Doryoku Judo Club’s judokas proved their mettle when they excelled at the South African National Judo Championships.
Hundreds of South African judo enthusiasts of all ages participated in the event, which took place at Carnival City earlier this month.
Doryoku had three pairs of judokas competing in the Kata division of the competition. They had to demonstrate Nage no kate, an illustration of the various concepts of throwing that exist in judo. It is used both as a training method and as a demonstration of understanding. Initially the kata consisted of ten techniques but these were subsequently added to with a further five throws.
Back: Tegan Malherbe, Andrew Hewett, Reece Allum and Vian Laas.
Front: Ivan Olivier and Ruben Cordier.
Photo: Sonwabile Antonie
Reece Allum and Vian Laas reigned supreme in their 18 to 20 age group, coming home with a gold medal. The pairings of Tegan Malherbe with Andrew Hewett, and Ivan Olivier with Ruben Cordier did not let the club down, and competed hard. For their efforts, both pairs finished second on the podium and received silver medals in the 13 to 14 age group.
Head coach of the club and 6th Dan Danie Bruwer was proud of his pupils’ performances during the competition.
“I am very satisfied with the results. With a bit of luck we could have achieved better results, however, this will serve as motivation for the judoka to work harder for next year,” he said.
