On Saturday and Sunday 19th and 20th March, Oxford judo participated at the British University Championships traditionally held in Sheffield. A strong team of 20 competitors travelled to Sheffield with the difficult task to repeat last year’s medal haul – a target that has been achieved.
On Saturday all the judoka fought extremely well, most of them progressed to the play off stage. Among the men, the best performance of the day was delivered by Max Denning and Ifor Capel. Max narrowly lost a bronze medal fight in the U90 category. Ifor managed to win all his fights and defend his BUCS title in the U90 category. Amongst the women, top performance was delivered by Amy-Ellis Thomson and Rebecca Bayliss who both won bronzes in their respective categories.
On Sunday, the team competition was on. The women’s team including both medallists and Carina Venter went easily to the final where they narrowly lost to Bath University. Despite the loss, everyone was happy with the defence of last year’s silver. The men were unlucky because of the rules Ifor could not fight due to a knee injury. He could be replaced James Shepherd but the order of the fights had to be kept. As a result, James U81 was facing heavier competitors than Max and David (both U90). Regardless the team managed to get a spot in the bronze medal game where they narrowly lost to Portsmouth.
The team left Sheffield with five medals and now everyone in Oxford is wishing best luck to Ifor and Becky who got the chance to represent Britain at the European University Championships in Sarajevo later this year.
Vit Sipal
Men’s Blues Captain 2010/11