Commonwealth Games, Glasgow Scotland – 31st July - Josh Katz – Silver Medal
Wins against Rwanda and Botswana, both by strangle; win against England by Yuko. Loss by Waza- Ari against India for a well-earned Silver medal. Although the final was disappointing for Josh, this was a solid performance and it was great to see him live in Glasgow; also adding to our pride was seeing Nathan in the National Coach’s chair for Josh.
Lima (Peru) Grand Prix – 14th August – Josh Katz Loss to #2 seed from USA with Waza-Ari from Seoi-Nage . The margins are so small at this level - again Josh demonstrated that he can hold his own with the world’s best - he will be back soon for
more – pushing forward. Always proud of his effort, the example he sets, and his drive.

Hong Kong Cadet Asian Cup - 18 July26

• 
  Abbey Cook - Win against Vietnam. Loss against Russia. Win against Australia for Bronze
  Lochlan Cook -Wins against the Saudi and Korea. Win against Australia. Loss against Mongolia for
  Silver
  Kento Asano - Loss against Korea.
  Hong Kong Junior Asian Cup – 19Jul26
  Abbey Cook – wins against two Mongolian athletes to take Gold.
  Bianca Tandean – loss to Mongolia. Wins against Korea and Australia to take Bronze.
  Lochlan Cook - wins against Mongolia and Korea. Lost to Vietnam. Win against Korea for Bronze.
  Nikola Dobric – win against Russia. Loss to Kazakh. Win against Vietnam. Loss against NZ for 5th
  Aaron Xu – loss to Russia.
  Grant Gu – win against Macau. Loss against Korea.
  Macau Cadet Asian Cup - 25 July26
  Abbey – win against Belarus. Win against Saudi to take Gold
  Lochlan – wins against Hong Kong and Australia. Loss to Australia and Uzbek for 5th
  Kento - wins against Belarus and USA and Australia. Loss against Belarus for Silver
  Macau Junior Asian Cup - 26 July26
  Grant – Loss to USA
  Lochlan – loss to Mongolia
  Aaron – loss to Korea
  Nikola – loss to Mongolia
  Abbey - loss to Korea. Wins against Hong Kong and Mongolia for Bronze
  Bianca – wins against Korea and Australia. Win against Korea for Gold

Summary
7 athletes competed in 18 divisions winning 9 medals:
3 x Gold, 2 x Silver, 4 x Bronze, 2 x 5th. Congratulations guys, well done!
Abbey 2 x Gold (HK Jnrs, MAC Cad), 2 x Bronze (HK Cad, MAC Jnr)
Bianca Gold (MAC Jnr), Bronze (HK Jnr)
Lochlan Silver (HK Cad), Bronze (HK Jnr), 5th (MAC Cad), U/P (MAC Jnr)
Kento Silver (MAC Cad), U/P (HKG Cad)
Nikola 5th (HK Jnr), U/P (MAC Jnr)
Aaron, Grant U/P (HK Jnr, MAC Jnr)

INTERNATIONAL MATCH BREAKDOWN

- Commonwealth Games, Glasgow Scotland – 31st July - Josh Katz – Silver Medal
In his first match (Round of 16) against Rwanda, Josh exerted pressure with solid footwork and Ne-
Waza. At the half-way mark, he scored Yuko with Deashi-Barai followed by a very fast transition to
strangle for the submission.

The quarter-final against Botswana was fast with Josh attacking quickly with Tai-Otoshi followed by
a drop technique from BOT. Josh squashed the attack and followed with another relentless transition
to strangle forcing a submission in under a minute.

The semi-final was against England, a silver medal winner a month before at the China Grand Prix.
The opening exchange saw a Shido to ENG for dropping followed up with a strong ne-waza exchange
from Josh. Josh handled ENG’s awkward style well – just short of the half-way point, Josh managed to
get his foot inside ENG’s leg as ENG tried a sacrifice throw and in doing countered that attack scoring
Yuko. ENG continued to pressure strongly with Tomoe-Nage with Josh replying with strong ne-waza
attacks and Kata-Guruma and this is how the match ended.

The final against India saw Josh using strong gripping with Ashi-Waza and IND with Tomoe-Nage.
Very even but with 40 seconds remaining, IND attacked with a drop Tai-Otoshi catching Josh for
Waza-Ari and this is how the match ended.

- Lima (Peru) Grand Prix – 14th August – Josh Katz
A late change to the national program made during the Commonwealth Games saw Josh come home
from Glasgow and within a week fly out again to Peru. A tough first round draw saw him fight the #2
seed from USA.

A world top 15 player Josh was up against Yang (USA) in the Round of 16. Very even and tactical up
to the half-way mark with a Shido each on the scoreboard. A minute later still even but then Josh was
given a harsh Shido for a drop attack which put him under some pressure. Less than 30 seconds to
full-time with Josh pushing on the sleeve to give pressure, USA dropped under with Seoi-Nage off the
sleeve end, pushing through for Waza-Ari. USA went on to win the silver medal. A strong effort from
Josh with only one small lapse in the entire match, which at this level can make the difference
between a loss or a medal – the margins are so small. Again, Josh demonstrated that he can hold his
own with the world’s best - he will be back soon for – push forward. Always proud of his effort, the
example he sets and his drive.

The following Budokan athletes travelled overseas to Asian Cups in Hong Kong and Macau: Cadets
Lochlan Cook, Abbey Cook and Kento Asano fought in the cadet and Junior divisions in both events
and Juniors Aaron Xu, Nikola Dobric, Bianca Tandean and Grant Gu competed in the Junior age
categories. Nikola and Bianca travelled to Hong Kong directly from their Junior Europe tour.

- Hong Kong Cadet Asian Cup - 18 July26
A solid start to the Hong Kong Asian Cup day 1 with our 3 Cadets fighting.
Rather frustrating with the live streaming being non-existent on Judo.tv and terrible quality on YouTube.
Thanks to our Juniors for videoing the Cadets and sending through their matches. A summary:

Abbey Cook. Abbey scored Yuko early in the first exchange of the match and kept a good pace to take the
win holding that advantage. In the semi-final against Russia, Abbey was thrown early for Waza-Ari with
sutemi-waza. She put in some strong attacks but struggled to penetrate through the strong grips. In an effort
to score she attempted Osoto and was countered for Waza-Ari. She dominated her Bronze match against
team-mate Wolak to take the medal.

Lochlan Cook. We were unable to see Lochie’s win against the Saudi; however, he then a hard battle with
the Korean in the quarter-final. A minute into Golden Score he executed a Sumi-Gaeshi for the win. The
semi-final was against team-mate Kelly. This was a very even match and 3m40s into a long Golden Score,
Lochie countered a drop Seoi-Nage attack for Yuko. In the final against Mongolia, it was clear that MGL
was comfortable at close range and in the second exchange, used Ura-Nage to pick Lochie up for Ippon.

Kento Asano. We were unable to see Kento’s fight against the eventual Gold medallist from Korea. He
reported that he struggled with grips against his left opponent and conceded a Waza-Ari with drop-Sode. A
reasonable start to the weekend with a Silver and Bronze and 5 of 8 matches won. Well done to our
Budokan Cadets.

- Hong Kong Junior Asian Cup – 19Jul26
Day 2 in Hong Kong Asian saw the Junior Asian Cup and 2 of our 3 Cadets plus our 4 Juniors stepping up
to the mat. Live streaming was not available and our guys did well to video their matches immediately after
each one so that we could support them.

Abbey had a great day beating both Mongolian athletes to take Gold.

Bianca lost her first match to a Mongolian but came back well in repechage defeating a Korean and an
Australian team-mate to take Bronze.

Lochlan won against Mongolia and Korea but lost to Vietnam in the semi-final. He took the Bronze
against Korea.

Nikola defeated Russia but lost to the Kazakh in the quarter-final. He beat Vietnam in the first repechage
round but lost the Bronze match to New Zealand to take 5th.

Aaron lost to Russia in the round of 16 so did not get a repechage round.

Grant beat Macau but then lost to Korea in the round of 16 also putting him out.

Kento rested his rolled ankle and took the primary videoing role.

Hong Kong Cadet and Junior summary: 9 divisions, 5 medals: 1 x Gold, 1 x Silver, 2 x Bronze, 1 x 5th
15/24 = 63% win rate
Abbey Gold - Junior Women, Bronze - Cadets
Lochlan Silver - Cadets, Bronze – Junior Men
Bianca Bronze – Junior Women
Nikola 5th – Junior Men
Kento, Aaron, Grant Participated

- Macau Cadet Asian Cup - 25 July26
Budokan’s 3 Cadets fought well in Macau taking a Gold, Silver and a 5th place. Well done guys – a
summary follows:

Abbey held a high pace in standing and ground work and won her Semi-Final against Belarus by Yuko
from Osoto Gari. In the final, she dominated her Saudi opponent (who had beaten Macau and Australia)
scoring Waza-Ari and Ippon off Sode-Tsurikomi in just over a minute to take the Gold.

Lochlan won his R16 match against Hong Kong with a Harai-Goshi for Ippon in just over a minute and his
Quarter-Final against team-mate Hucent in the first exchange using drop Eri-Seoi-Nage but in the semifinal
against Kelly (AUS), the result from Hong Kong’s semi-final was reversed when Kelly caught Lochie
with drop Seoi-Nage for Yuko and held out for the remaining time. For the Bronze, Lochie had to evade a
number of strong Tomoe-Nage attacks from his Uzbek opponent after which his arm-wrap Ne-Waza
turnover was countered and the Uzbek scored Yuko. Waza-Ari followed from Uzbek’s Tomoe-Nage. In the
closing seconds, Lochie applied great pressure scoring Waza-Ari from Sumi-Gaeshi but the Yuko lead
prevailed and Lochie had to be content with 5th place.

Kento’s R16 match was against Belarus who had beaten Kyrgyzstan. He scored Waza-Ari with a lovely
drop Tai-Otoshi in 30 seconds and at 1 minute executed a perfectly timed Ouchi-Gari for Ippon. The
Quarter-Final against USA saw Kento dominate especially in Ne-Waza and worked hard to nail his
Sangaku-Gatame hold-down for Ippon. Semi-Final against team-mate Min saw an early Yuko from Uchi-
Mata off the floor and 1.5 minutes in some strong ground-work turned Min over for the hold-down. The
final against was the first match that Kento fell a bit behind the pace getting caught on the ground for
Waza-Ari, although somehow a Yuko also appeared on the score-board. Kento pressured BLR for Shido
and almost scored but couldn’t close the gap in score taking the Silver medal.

Great work by our Cadets – well done guys.

• 
  - Macau Junior Asian Cup - 26 July26

Grant fought in the Round of 32 (R32) against USA. Early in the match Grant tried to counter an Osoto-
Gari and then had to defend on the ground eventually getting caught with Sangaku-Gatame.

Lochlan fought in the R16 against MGL who had beaten BLR. He conceded a Shido after 1 minute and 30
seconds later was caught on the ground where he submitted to an arm-lock.

Aaron fought in the R16 against KOR who had beaten KAZ. No scores but Aaron was a bit behind the
pace albeit his intensity was quite solid. 2 Shidos to 1 down struggling to get two hands on, with 1m30s to
go KOR turned in for a well-timed Uchi-Mata scoring Ippon.

Nikola fought in the R16 against MGL who had beaten TPE. As usual Nikola was aggressive almost
scoring with Sumi-Gaeshi. At the minute mark he pushed forward losing posture and was caught with a
low Seoi-Nage for Yuko. Struggling to secure his right arm and pushing forward, KOR turned with Seoi-
Nage this time scoring Ippon.

Abbey’s first match was the QF against KOR who had beaten BLR. Quite evenly matched, after 1 minute
Abbey had her right sleeve caught and was thrown with Kouchi-Gake. 2 minutes of intense attacking saw
Abbey catch KOR with Osoto-Gari for Waza-Ari gaining the lead; however, with only 6 seconds
remaining Abbey was caught with Kouchi-Gari for Waza-Ari. In the first 5 seconds of her repechage match
against HKG, Abbey scored Yuko with Seoi-Osoto. Laying on the pressure, Abbey scored Yuko again at
2m30s with Uchi-Mata to Kouchi-Gari. A third Yuko from Seoi-Nage was how the match ended. In her
Bronze match against MGL, an early Waza-Ari from Sode-Osoto set the scene for a dominating effort
ending in Ippon from Sangaku-Gatame with a minute remaining. Great effort for a Bronze medal.

Bianca fought the QF against KOR who had beaten TPE. Her workload was solid and at the half-way
mark was a Yuko ahead from Osoto-Gari. A lovely switch left Ogoshi for Ippon closed the match with 1
minute remaining. The S/F against team-mate Kazuoka saw Bianca dominate on the ground in particular
and at 2 minutes scored Waza-Ari from Kouchi-Gake and this is how the match ended. The final against
KOR saw Bianca coming from Waza-Ari behind off Uchi-Mata after 1 minute. A few more threats from
KOR saw Bianca take advantage of a missed Uchi-Mata attack putting KOR in defence on the ground. A
perfectly timed Harai-Goshi off the floor saw Ippon scored and a well-deserved Gold medal.

Summary
Over the 2 weekends of competitions in Asia, a number of our Cadets and Juniors had a high volume of
matches. Overall, a solid performance with 7 athletes competing in 18 divisions winning 9 medals:
3 x Gold, 2 x Silver, 4 x Bronze, 2 x 5th. Congratulations guys, well done!
Abbey 2 x Gold (HK Jnrs, MAC Cad), 2 x Bronze (HK Cad, MAC Jnr)
Bianca Gold (MAC Jnr), Bronze (HK Jnr)
Lochlan Silver (HK Cad), Bronze (HK Jnr), 5th (MAC Cad), U/P (MAC Jnr)
Kento Silver (MAC Cad), U/P (HKG Cad)
Nikola 5th (HK Jnr), U/P (MAC Jnr)
Aaron, Grant U/P (HK Jnr, MAC Jnr)