Whanganui Judo Club wins medals at international competition

WHS student KEIGHTLEY WATSON wins GOLD and SILVER at the OJU Continental Championship.
Whanganui City College Judo Club wins medals at international competition. 

City College judo players representing New Zealand, along with competitors from 16 other countries, competed over a two day event at the OJU Continental Championship held in the Kingdom of Tonga on Friday/Saturday, April 29/30. 

Former WHS student Finn Brown, fighting up an age division on the Friday, competed in the senior men’s under 73kg weight class, winning his hard fought preliminary fights against strong players from New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. This put him into the afternoon final block against an Olympian from Australia. The final was a hotly contested match with the Australian player scoring a wazari at the two minute mark. This being the only score match at full time gave the Australian the win and Brown the silver. 

Brown competed again on the Saturday in his actual age group - the Junior men under 73kg, where again he again fought his way through to the medals winning bronze.

WHS student KEIGHTLEY WATSON competed in the cadet men =90kg coming up against an Australian player in the final. Watson was thrown for ippon giving him the silver. These two players met again in the higher age division, junior men +100kg and taking what he had learnt from their previous encounter, Watson threw the Australian within the first minute of the fight giving him a decisive win and the title of +100kg junior men OJU Champion. Coach Garry Davies says “This is an outstanding achievement for the young 15 year old.” 

Note: an ‘ippon’ is the highest score a fighter can achieve and a ‘wazari’ is the second highest.

Wanganui River City Press 4/5/17