OWEN Lambert (13) of Harlow Judo Club, competed in his third International competition having been selected to be part of the Regional England Development Squad (REDS). He travelled with the team on Friday to Dronten, Netherlands, to take part in the Flevoland Open International Tournament on Saturday, which was then followed by a training camp, before returning back to the UK Sunday afternoon. On the day of the event, the Dutch players were out in force but so were the French, Belgian, German, Swiss and Norwegians.

The event took place over 9 mats with up to 700 participants and proved to be a very successful event for the group of coaches and players, aged between 8 and 18. The squad came away with a bumper haul of medals and Owen for his own part, came away with a well-earned Gold medal in his weight group. This is the first event that Owen has attended where Shime-waza (strangles) was allowed. He won all 5 fights with a variety of different techniques, displaying strong judo throughout his contests consisting of ne-waza (ground work) and tachi-waza (standing techniques) with the final contest going into Golden Score (extra time).

The standard of Judo, especially European Judo, was extremely high at this competition and the whole REDS squad did not disappoint. Whilst some of the team didn’t medal, some placed just outside of medal contention, they still came away with valuable experience and for many of them, was their first international competition.

Whilst Harlow Head Coach, Mick Ellis, did not travel to the competition, he is nonetheless very pleased of Owen’s achievements.

Harlow Judo Club are always on the lookout for sponsorship to help fund players in events all around the country at various levels. If you can assist, please contact Gill Ellis on [email protected] or 07976 955905.

Harlow Judo Club also caters for those with special needs – please contact the Club for more details. They are based in Foldcroft, Harlow, CM20 1SE. For training times, please visit www.harlowjudoclub.com