By 
At the Irish Open Masters Judo championship in Dublin the local judo club Ren-Bu-Kan had seven entries and came home with two Gold, two Silver and three Bronze.
As well as competitors from all over Ireland there were participants from U.K, France, Holland , Germany, Georgia, Poland and Spain.
Black belts Ciaran Little and Ivan Petkov struck gold and finished all their fights inside the distance. This was Ivan’s first national title but Ciaran Little is no stranger to standing on the winners spot on the podium having been Irish champion eight consecutive years from eleven up to age eighteen and after winning his Black belt at age eighteen he made the surprise decision to retire from judo. A couple of years ago he was persuaded to come back to the sport by his coach and now at age 34 he is once again Irish champion.
Seasoned black belts ,Daniel Grimley and Brian McGilloway , many times Irish champions had to settle for lesser medals this time. Brian won Bronze and Daniel won a Silver and a Bronze as he was in two categories. Brown belt Adrian Conlon won a very hard fought Bronze medal while Paul Daly who is relatively new to the sport ,having only joined at the start of the year, won all his fights in the novices category to reach the final , but he fell short here and had to be content with the Silver medal.
The club’s other fighter Ales Skupina fought his heart out but finished in fifth place in his group just outside the medals but the experience will have done him good.
The next competition for the senior fighters is the N.Ireland championships in the Foyle Arena and the club will be hoping for more success.
If you would like to try out this fantastic Olympic fighting sport or would like your children to participate ring Ren-Bu-Kan coach Harry McGuigan on 07779245925.
