Success bodes well for Island Games in Rhodes

THE Guernsey judo squad has returned from the Southern Area Championships at Crystal Palace with a bagful of medals. It was the first competitive run-out for the club as they prepare for the 2007 NatWest Island Games in Rhodes.

The sport has been reintroduced to the bi-annual competition after most recently being included in Gibraltar in 1995.

The five-man team was led by former Gloucestershire county player Owen Watton and with Roberto Mascherucci, who has represented Italy at the European Champion-ships, they were the only two members with any competitive experience. Guernsey came away from Crystal Palace with four medals.

'It was a fantastic performance,' said fireman Watton.

'For a lot of the guys, it was their first time out. It was a big step up from the Guernsey scene.

'We had five guys and four came back with medals. It's absolutely fantastic.

'I'm extremely pleased with what we came away with.'

The three making their debut were Danny Smith, Ady Carre and Aries Rocha and despite their inexperience, they were all in the top three of their categories.

Carre managed to get to the final of the masters' section where he unluckily missed out on the gold due to a technicality.

Rocha picked up a bronze in the group two 90kg category and this was made all the more impressive by the fact that he had never even attended a grading let alone had any experience at competitive judo.

Smith went one step further to pick up a silver medal in the 100kg. He had intended to fight in the 90kg, but the organisers approached him on the day and asked him to fight in the heavier weight to balance the number of competitors in these categories.

His opening fight was a hard and fast affair in which the Sarnian did extremely well, defeating his opponent with a hold-down.

In his final fight, Smith had a lapse in concentration that cost him the gold medal.

'It was a very good foot sweep following a schoolboy error on my part,' he said.

For Watton and Mascherucci, the tournament marked a return to the competitive scene after a hiatus of a couple of years for each.

Watton in his section had no problems getting through to the final where he came up against British squad member Michael Chamberlain.

It was always going to be tough for Watton but he almost succeeded in bringing his more experienced opponent down when he attempted a lunging foot sweep, but Chamberlain kept his composure to gain a win by hold down.

Watton had to settle for silver while Mascherucci found himself in a very hard lightweight class and a mistake in his first fight saw him get taken down by a leg sweep.

The restaurant manager's second fight was a different affair as it nearly went on for the full five minutes, but again he came out second-best.

'Roberto was unfortunate on the day,' said Watton.

'He is a very good player but in his weight category there were a lot of top players.

'Even though he didn't come away with a medal, I think he competed the best in his category.'

Watton believes that there are areas to work on as next year the club hopes to attend about four regional championships.

It is also on the lookout for new recruits who could be on their way to Rhodes in two years' time.

'My defeat was my own fault and we all made mistakes,' said Watton.

'It's just about getting used to competitions. That's the level we have got to step up to for the Island Games.

'I'm now looking for people to push us four our places.'

For more information, see www.guernseyjudo.com