The Paris Invasion
18 members of the club travelled to the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris for an international student tournament this Saturday 6th February. The competition was of a very good standard, with particularly strong teams from Poland, Zurich and Paris.
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Despite this, we came away with bronze trophies and medals for our men’s kyu grade team (Bobbi Previti, James Fowler and Matt Taylor) and our women’s team (Emma Burnett, Jordan Doherty and Ephanielle Verbanis). One of our men’s dan grade teams (Nick Suarez, Alwyn Clarke, Andrew Stewart and Matt Edmans) took 5th place, whilst the other (Alex Jones, Vitek Sipal, Luis Poyatos and Justin Gregory) faced very tough opposition in their pool and didn’t make it through. Amy Ellis-Thompson joined a team with some girls from Paris, and they also went on to take 5th place.
After an eventful party on the Saturday evening, we all went to watch the Paris Grand Slam on Sunday. The British players all got battered, but Teddy Riner smashed everyone in sight (again) so the French were happy.
Congratulations to everyone that fought at the weekend – everyone performed exceptionally well. Thanks to Carol Doherty and Laura Scarlett for coming over with us to coach, and to Justin for organising a fantastic trip!