Josh Katz, Kyle McIndoe and Cameron Leishman - Junior World Championships – 18th – 22nd October, Zagreb Croatia. Please view the great article on our athletes who have competed at the Junior World Championships last week. Hills Shire Times Article: http://newslocal.smedia.com.au/hills-shire-times/PrintArticle.aspx?doc=NLHST%2F2017%2F10%2F17&entity=ar05503
- Josh Katz
Josh fought on Day 1 Wednesday 18th October at 60kg and the first match of the competition. Not having competed in Oceania in Juniors, he was unseeded and in the first round drew a very tough Tajikistani (TJK), 5th place in Senior Asian Continentals. Easily defending the first attack in the opening exchange, Josh then tried a Laats which was defended by TJK. The second Seoinage from TJK was deep. A strong defence by Josh almost stopped the attack, but TJK continued to drive and scored Wazari at 1 minute. TJK attempted Ne-Waza and Josh almost caught him. In the next exchange, perhaps surprised by the first score, Josh got caught with Tomoe-Nage for Wazari. This was perhaps his only mistake in the match. In the next exchange, Josh dropped in a very strong Choi (wrong side Seoinage) but amazingly the TJK stepped around and squashed it and in the process catching Josh in a hold down. Despite the outcome, this was a fair fight for Josh although he was very disappointed. TJK went on to win his next match against the #2 seed from BEL but then lost to AZE.
- Cameron Leishman
Cameron at 73kg, competed on Day 2 and was match #2 against ITA, who has medalled in 2 Junior European Cups. Cam started well with his aggressive style using feet and Tai Otoshi chops against the right hander. One of his Deashis was countered with Kouchi and Cam did well defending on the ground. Perhaps a little loose after his own attacks, Cam was open to ITA counter-attacking which negated the advantage Cam gained each time. ITA also had a high proportion of sleeve control causing Cams to penetrate less than they should have. It was at this point 1 minute 10 seconds into the match after Cam’s Uchimata attack that ITA reached over Cam’s shoulder grabbing the belt driving his hip in for a big O-Tsuri_Goshi for Ippon. ITA went on to beat Korea but then lost to the eventual gold medallist from Azerbaijan. Cam was disappointed that he couldn’t control the grips sufficiently to impose his attacks but was aggressive and maintained his posture and tempo.
- Kyle McIndoe
Kyle at 66kg, also competed on Day 2 but had to wait a couple of hours for his match against CAN who had beaten PER in the first round. In this match, Kyle was frustrated early with getting his sleeve pinned. At 1 minute he attacked well with Uchimata but the Canadian attacked immediately afterwards with Seoi-Otoshi scoring Wazari. In the next exchange, perhaps surprised by the first score, Kyle was caught with an awkward Sode for another Wazari. In the next 2 exchanges Kyle attempted Ashi Waza and transitioned to the ground attempting a strangle which looked good. For the first time the Canadian backed up but still dropped preventing Kyle from getting in first. Kyle attempted more Ashi Waza but wasn’t able to impose sufficiently. With a minute and a half remaining CAN was given a Shido for a drop attack but then continued to frustrate with some sleeve control and more drop attacks with some ground work both attacking on the ground to no avail. In the last 30 seconds, Kyle completely dominated attacking with Seoi Nage and Ashi Waza and forcing a Shido to CAN but this was not enough with the first Wazari prevailing. As Kyle was not happy with his performance in particular his gripping which is normally a strength. CAN lost his next match to Netherlands.
- Junior Worlds Team competition
Josh and Cameron also competed in the Teams competition (48, 57, 70 +70kg Women and 60, 73, 90 +90kg Men). There were 16 teams, all would have been a challenge for Australia giving away 57 and +70 positions. As it turned out Australia drew Japan and Josh had the championship Bronze medallist. Josh fought very well using his feet and attempting a number of attacks before conceding a Shido for ducking. With only 5 seconds remaining and looking strong for a Golden Score performance, he was caught too long in a severe right on right position allowing Koga to strike for his favoured Kouchi Gake for Ippon. A good effort from Josh.Cameron ended up fighting the left handed 66kg Japanese after expecting the right-hander 73kg Ishigooka. Again, quite an even match, with Cam conceding only a Shido for passivity. With one minute to go, Cam was caught on the ground in a hold down.The Junior Worlds did not have the outcome that our boys desired, but that takes nothing away from their effort and with each international experience, their improving competitiveness. Only a couple of months previously, at the Junior EC Berlin in the round of 16, Josh had his third win against the 2017 Senior Pan American Continental Champion from Brazil, Penna. In this Junior WC, Penna won 3 of 5 matches for 5th place - that’s Judo!
- Nathan Katz
SENIOR EUROPEAN CUP MALAGA SPAIN 28TH – 29TH OCTOBER THE HAGUE GRAND PRIX – 17TH – 19TH NOVEMBER – THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS Nathan is now back in Camberley after helping our boys at the Junior World Championships in Croatia. He will compete in two high-level senior European events in Spain and Netherlands before meeting up with Josh in Japan for training prior to the Tokyo Grand Slam.