Team JFAUK have returned from the 2019 CSIT World Sports Games in Tortosa, Spain, coming away with two bronze medals in hand.

The first bronze medal came from Oli Relton in the senior men’s -73kg category. Oli took on an extremely tough category consisting of high level judoka from across the world and battled through into the semi finals before facing the eventual gold medalist of Iran. Despite putting up a strong performance and coming extremely close to throwing the Iranian for Ippon, Oli was unfortunately caught and had to settle for a bronze medal.

Also competing in the senior men’s -73kg category was Alex Charalambous. Despite a valiant effort, Alex was unfortunately knocked out in the group stages after falling short to the eventual finalists hailing from Iran and Italy.

The second bronze medal came from Ross Elliot in the men’s -100kg category. Ross faced a category of well accomplished judoka and battled through against Italian and Spanish judoka before eventually falling short in the semi final against the eventual gold medalist of Iran, leaving him with a bronze medal and matching his achievement from the 2017 World Sports Games in Latvia.

The final judoka of the day to step on the tatami was Sam Sampson in the men’s -81kg category. Sam took on an extremely tough category of Iranian, Spanish, Italian and Austrian judoka but was unfortunately knocked out in the group stages after drawing an extremely tough group which included the world’s current number 1 ranked judoka from Iran.

The trip proved to be successful with much experience gained by the team, who will now bring this experience back to their clubs and assist the many aspiring judoka spread across JFAUK. Held every two years, the event always draws very experienced judoka from across the world and is a true test at the highest level for our judoka. As always, we are proud of our team for taking on the challenge and congratulate our medalists. We look forward to 2021 where we can step back on the WSG tatami.