QLD OPEN RESULTS: 3-4 MARCH 2012 With Finn, Xavier and Kiernan Tafft, Kendall and Madison Lane, Amber Rudgley, Liam Stewart, Naomi de Bruine, Jessica Klajman and Jake Young unavailable to compete, we had many missing medal prospects including from the recent ACT Open, athletes who won 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze medal. In Canberra, Budokan's representation was exceptional with 22 athletes competing in 30 divisions. In Brisbane, we had 14 athletes competing in 20 divisions, exactly the same as in 2011. The second of 2 selection events for Cadets and Junior and Senior Men / for Oceania Championships, there was a lot riding on this competition for many of our athletes. Again, the club's supporting machine was headed by Kerrye, Dale and Rob coaching, backed up by our passionate group of Budokan travelling circus troupe. The Novotel Brisbane left a fine impression although the pizzas and Chinese around the pool / spa were replaced by fine Italian cuisine at Southbank. The 2012 QLD Open results have again been determined on the basis that an athlete must win at least one match. It is unfortunate again that some of our athletes went all the way to Queensland for just a final match but that's the luck of the draw. Because the JFA does not award an official placing for second place if the match has not been won, I have not recorded the result as second. In Queensland however, for the Junior and Senior Boys and Girls, medals were awarded under these scenarios. Individual results are recorded on the attached document along with some statistics. Our results were very commendable with 2 Gold, 7 Silver, and 3 Bronze Medals with another 3 x 5th placings, meaning that we had winning matches in 15 of the 20 divisions that were contested over 50 matches. This compares reasonably well to 2011's QLD Open results of: 3 Gold, 6 Silver, and 4 Bronze Medals with 3 minor places. The configuration of the competition was similar to Canberra where Cadets, Junior M/W and Senior M/W each competed on both days with the weight divisions split between the 2 days. This meant that Amber had to compete in 3 divisions on the same day, with Josh, Cam, Aidan and Nathan each competing in 2 divisions on the same day. That's a big load with Nathan having 7 matches, Amber 6, Cameron and Josh 5, and Aidan 4 matches. The competition had a few problems with last minute changes to the Draw, mismatching of numbers between the Draw and the Match Order projection and it also consolidated the many changes in age and weight categories in which our athletes are now competing this year. Some issues with refereeing calls left coaches and the educated crowd quite perplexed - there is some real work to do with referee education and alertness at the big events upon which so much rides for the athletes in terms of team selection. A brief summary: Maddison Edwards played well in her only (Finals match) which is pretty disappointing after all that travel. Well done on being presented a Silver medal. Our other Junior Boys/Girls both had 2 matches with Saskia winning a Silver and Zach on this occasion not able to repeat his Bronze medal match in the ACT Open. Having moved up to Senior Boys age category, Sam did well with a couple of good wins for a Bronze medal, Lachlan not so fortunate being countered in his first match and having to contend with aggressive high gripping in the Bronze match. Kyle and
Conor played in the 50kg division. Conor started with a quick Ippon win and then after being ahead in the semi by Waza Ari was countered and had to settle for a Bronze match which he dutifully won in 10 seconds. Kyle played well to make the final and although played strongly against some contentious refereeing, fought to the end for a Silver medal. Our 3 Cadet Boys played very strongly repeating their ACT Open results with Josh winning both matches by Ippon, the final with a strangle. Cam had a very close first match losing by Yuko off Tomoe nage against National Silver medallist Knoester and then took the Bronze against Kouros with Ouchi. Aidan secured Silver after a good win in the first, losing to Kouros with Yuko scores off Tomoe Nage. With a good Ippon win from a strangle to get into the final, Amber made a tactical error and was caught with Uchi Mata having to settle for Silver. Our 4 Cadets also stepped up to play in the Junior Men/ age categories. Making his way to the final with a pick-up counter for Ippon, Josh had a far better match with National Champion Jolly compared to Canberra, with great work off the grip and good Seoi attacks, but had to settle for Silver against the National Champion. After first round walkover, Cam had a very hard opponent in 2011 National Champion Yokoyama but played very well securing Waza Ari but unfortunately got caught on the ground with a strangle. As in Cadets, he was not able to overcome Knoester for the Bronze medal although the one-sided grip was left on for a long time by the referee before an attack was made. Amber's first match turned around her loss in the Cadet final with a fast and effective Gake for Ippon against Easton. She dominated the final against Takenaka with 3 Yukos but again made a tactical error walking onto a Seoi having to settle for another Silver. Jakob had 2 good Ippon wins with Uchi Mata and Strangle but lost the semis to National Champion Smith. He started well in the Bronze match against Tate but was countered and had to settle for 5th. Nathan had a first round walkover and against Huyhn earned a very quick Ippon off Seoi. He won the final against Papadimitropoulos with confidence and sound strategy for Ippon. Our senior categories were contested by only 3 athletes. Amber was out aggressed in both her matches but lessons learned from the experience will auger well for her in the future. Our adopted French Budokani Kiliane (Kiki) had a confident first round win by Ippon from Seoi to put her in the final with Junior National Champion Coughlin. A scoreless full-time took the match into Golden score although some may have thought that her opponent should have received penalties for passivity. When her attacking took the match to ground, a contentious refereeing decision awarded a Yuko score for a turnover, which sadly a protest with the Commission couldn't overturn. Nathan had 2 good Ippon wins with Uchi Mata and Seoi, the second against his co-finalist in Junior Men. In the semis, he played a French friend of Kiliane who had disposed both previous opponents very quickly. To avoid a strong Tomoe attack, Nathan tried to cartwheel and in the process was caught with an armlock. He then fought for Bronze against old rival Tobin and was disappointed allowing the dominant high grip to upset him losing by Yuko and repeating his ACT result. Like Canberra, there were some highlights and some disappointments - all building character, experience, and discipline. The need for good ground work continues, as does the value of playing every possible competition and if ready, higher age categories. Like Canberra, the value of being persistent was again emphasised in some matches, as was keeping sound posture and Page 2
avoiding grips that you don't cope well with, and finally the value of maintaining focus so that even when ahead, you don't give opportunities to the opponent. Thanks to David Colman, Jakob and Conor Edwards, and Rob Beedham for manning the video and to all the Budokanis who again supported their fellow athletes even though they may not have been competing on the same day or had already finished their matches. The Budokan spirit thrives, even at the restaurant on Saturday night where we had over 30 enjoying each other's company, so again to the great group of Budokan families who continue to support a great sport and a great club, thank you. Congratulations to all our athletes for again displaying great spirit and skill. Had we not been short of athletes, we had a very good chance of taking out the award for the club of the competition - maybe next time! We now await confirmation of athlete selection to the Oceania Championships at the end of April to be held in Cairns (sorry guys, Tahiti was last year). At the moment, we have a very good chance of 5 athletes qualifying in 7 divisions. Age Category No. of athletes Results 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th / 5 th / 7 th Divisions SAT SUN Athletes SAT SUN Junior Girls 2 1 2 0 2 0 Junior Boys 1 1 x unplaced 1 0 1 0 Senior Girls 0 0 0 Senior Boys 4 1 2 1 x unplaced (5 th ) 0 4 0 4 Cadet Girls 1 1 0 1 0 1 Cadet Boys 3 1 1 1 3 0 3 0 Jnr 1 1 0 1 0 0 Jnr Men 5 1 1 2 x 5 th 1 x unplaced 4 1 1 1 Snr 2 1 1 x unplaced 1 1 1 0 Snr Men 1 1 x 5 th 1 0 0 0 TOTAL 20 2 7 3 3 x 5 th 12 8 8 6 Page 3
FAMILY NAME FIRST NAME AGE DIVISION WEIGHT DIVISION RESULT EDWARDS Maddison Junior Girls U/32kg Unplaced (Final Match awarded Silver) BROTHERS Saskia Junior Girls U/36kg 2 nd COLMAN Zach Junior Boys U/34kg Unplaced BROTHERS Lachlan Senior Boys U/40kg Unplaced BEEDHAM Sam Senior Boys U/40kg 3 rd EDWARDS Conor Senior Boys U/50kg 3 rd McINDOE Kyle Senior Boys U/50kg 2 nd McINDOE Amber Girls Cadets U/52kg 2 nd KATZ Josh Boys Cadets U/55kg 1 st LEISHMAN Cameron Boys Cadets U/60kg 3 rd SANDRI Aidan Boys Cadets U/66kg 2 nd McINDOE Amber Junior U/52kg KATZ Josh Junior Men U/55kg 2 nd LEISHMAN Cameron Junior Men U/60kg 5 th SANDRI Aidan Junior Men U/66kg Unplaced KATZ Nathan Junior Men U/66kg 1 st EDWARDS Jakob Junior Men U/81kg 5 th McINDOE BEUNARD Amber Kiliane Senior Senior U/52kg U/63kg 2 nd Unplaced KATZ Nathan Senior Men U/66kg 5 th 2 nd 14 athletes competing in 20 divisions: 2 Gold, 7 Silver, 3 Bronze, 3 x 5 th Page 4
Age Category Breakdown Age Category No. of athletes Results 1st 2nd 3rd 4th / 5th / 7th Junior Boys/Girls 3 1 Senior Boys/Girls 4 1 2 / 1 / Cadets 4 1 2 1 Junior Men/ 6 1 2 / 1 / Senior Men / 3 1 / 1 / Page 5