Local judokas hold their own

Every year since 1982, in March-April, the Malta Judo Federation (MJF) has been organising the Malta International Judo Open.

Judokas, delegates and referees from Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Turkey and New Zealand took part in this year’s event.

Maestro Massimo Sulli, one of the nine European referees selected for the Olympic Games, accepted the MJF invitation to oversee the refereeing at the Malta Judo Open.

The programme kicked off with a demonstration from the young judo dragons.

The next session was dedicated to the espoir (12 to 14 years) and cadet judokas. Envic Galea, the MJF president, and Alex Bezzina, sports director, were joined by Gino Schiavone, CEO of the Kunsill Malti għall-iSport, in watching the emerging talent of Maltese judo.

The senior international event followed. A total of 15 Maltese judokas grabbed the opportunity to test themselves against their foreign peers on home soil.

Here, Malta’s Jeremy Saywell didn’t disappoint. Contesting the senior -66kgs, Saywell encountered fellow favourite Mattia Galbiati in the second round.

In a tight bout, neither managed to throw one another onto the mat but Galbiati relied on his superior experience to beat Saywell by osaekomi (hold down).

Saywell dropped down to the repechage and launched his bid for a bronze medal. He had the better of Elrick Starbuck, from the British Judo Council, and Alex Jones, from the Southampton delegation.

The bronze medal fight pitted Saywell against Laurence Holden, from the British Judo Council. Saywell countered Holden for ippon to win bronze.

Isaac Bezzina also produced a bold performance in the -90kgs senior, landing bronze after seeing off New Zealand’s Lance Wicks (a member of the Southampton delegation) and Valerio Pallotta, from the Lazio regional team.

The -73kgs was the largest category. Ranier Bonnici, Matthew Azzopardi and Antonio Greco were unlucky with the draw.

Greco bowed out to Mario Strazzeri (fifth place at the 2007 European Cadet Championship) who went on to clinch the gold medal.

Bonnici lost to William Raffi, the son of Malta coach Lamberto. Raffi had a good tournament, winning bronze. Azzopardi was beaten by the other bronze medallist, Stefano LaRosa.

In the -81kgs category, Malta was represented by Francesco Aufieri. Although still in his first year as a cadet, Aufieri was not intimidated and used his participation to gain more experience besides adding another bronze to Malta’s medal haul.

Luca Montebello figured in the -100kgs category which was won by Conor Murphy, from the Southampton delegation.

In the ladies’ field, all eyes were on Marcon Bezzina. Despite featuring only five entries, the -63kgs category was probably one of the strongest.

Two of the favourites, Bezzina and the experienced Davis Nekoda (Ealing Judo Club), met in the opening bout.

Bezzina secured a yuko but Davis recovered to deliver a yuko herself. The girls went into golden score and towards the end of the match, Davis attacked and beat Marcon by ippon.

Jordan Doherty, a strong British judoka from Oxford University, was next for Bezzina who prevailed by ippon. Bezzina, who easily topped the open category, won the silver medal after toppling Italian Letizia Gasparri. Justine Buttigieg also competed in this category.

The other Maltese participants in the ladies’ competitions were Cheryl Cachia, Martina Camilleri and Leslie-Ann Portelli.

Malta placed fifth out of 13 teams in the medals table.