Hectic schedule for Maltese judokas

These past few weeks saw the Malta Judo Federation and its athletes involved in a series of activities that also stretched beyond our shores.

At home, Massimo Sulli, one of the top judo referees in the world, was here after accepting an invitation to conduct an update and examination of aspirant Maltese referees.

Maestro Sulli was a high-profile athlete in his days on the mat, finishing fifth in the Barcelona Olympics, third in the World Military Games and unbeaten at the Italian National Championships between 1983 and 1991.

He is now part of a team of top coaches at Fiamme Gialle, training top-notch judokas the likes of Giulia Quintavalle, Olympic gold medallist in the Beijing Olympics.

During his stay in Malta, Maestro Sulli also led a training session for the Maltese national team and his visit was concluded with a Shiai Tournament at the Hibernians Budokwai Judo Club in Kordin.

Malta team judoka Jeremy Saywell travelled to Rome the weekend after for the International Junior Tournament in Giano dell’ Umbria.

He started off on the right track, eliminating one of the students of Olympic champion Pino Maddaloni with Ippon before booking his place in the gold medal match with a series of fine showings in his next bouts.

Saywell went on to win the final for a merited gold medal, the first ever at a junior event of this calibre for a Maltese judoka.

Saywell was then joined by Marcon Bezzina who attended a week-long training camp in Rome under the supervision of Maestro Lamberto Raffi.

At the end of the training camp, Raffi led a Maltese team, comprising Saywell, Bezzina, Joanna Camilleri and Brent Law, at the Holstein International Open which took place in Hamburg, Germany.

Brent won one of his three bouts but Saywell could not match his performance in Italy as this time he was making his first showing at senior level.

Camilleri made it all the way to the semi-finals where she got beaten by an opponent from Senegal. Camilleri had to settle for a bronze medal, becoming the first Maltese judoka to climb the podium at the Holstein Open.

Camilleri, Law and Bezzina then proceeded to the Nymburk Training Camp, in Czech Republic.

This weekend, the Malta Judo Federation is holding the Intern-ational Open at De La Salle College. Today’s bouts start at 10.30 a.m.