Islington judoka from the Sobell Judo Club have just returned from the 2019 Bilzen Judo Open held in Belgium, with 4 international medals in tow!
The North London based team took the 10 hour drive to Belgium Saturday night in preparation for the competition on Sunday. The event is an annual international judo competition drawing judoka from Belgium, the UK, the Nederlands, France, Germany amongst other countries.
First up from Sobell was Sam Sampson in the senior men’s -81kg category. Sams first opponent was a Dutch judoka and a close fight took it to golden score. After a hard fought golden score (sudden death) – that lasted a full 20 minutes! After the long battle, Sam was eventually caught by a stumbling wazari and handed a loss. Next, Sam was up against a fellow British Judoka, travelling with a different team, and this time was able to catch him with a Juji Gatame to score Ippon and take home the silver medal.
Next up was Saad Sid and Sasha McClean in the men’s -90kg category. In this category it was our British Judoka who came out on top, with Saad Sid using his trademark Ogoshi to take gold, Sasha McClean using fast Ne-Waza to take Silver over their Belgian opponents.
Lucien Buleandra stepped up next in the men’s -81kg Kyu grade category and was on fine form as usual. Up first he took on a British Judoka, taking him out with strong Katame Waza. Next, he dispatched of his Belgian opponent with a huge, showstopping Ogoshi to take home gold.
The Sobell judoka travelled with the Judo for All United Kingdom team, alongside fellow judoka from Club Judoka in Worthing. The full team came away with 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze.
Source: https://www.sobelljudoclub.com/component/k2/international-medals-for-sobell