Duisberg International, Germany

I Travelled over to Duisberg, Germany last weekend for the 12th International Tournament Duisberg. This event has a reputation as one of the strongest under fifteen competitions in Germany, and is one of two identification events for this age on the German calendar. Being such a tough event it attracts only elite competitors, and many of the best fighters in Europe are always in attendance. More than 330 competitors from seven countries took part in the 2010 event. Entrants from Belgium, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Slovenia as well as the host country Germany made the trip for this years event. I started well against one of the German Favourites quickly holding him down to proceed to the next round. This was followed up by another good victory against a much taller German opponent. This put me up against The Belgium national Champion, Bernd Lemmens. Bernd is a very strong fighter, and although they have been in the same events before, this was the very first time we had fought. We were both very cautious, which led to a very cagey and tactical fight, which I won on penalties to proceed through to the 2010 final. Up against a very strong German fighter in the final I was by now on top form and dominated him from the start and finish in first place. This weekend I travel over to St. Petersburg, Russia for the 14th International Junior Tournament ‘Olympic Starts’. One thousand five hundred of the strongest fighters from all over Europe will fight in the palace of Sports in St. Petersburg. This will be my toughest challenge to date. Keep up to date with my trip on my blog which can be found at http://glossopjudostar.blogspot.com/

Under 13 Table Tennis National Champion

On Saturday 24th April 2010 at Doncaster Dome I won the English Schools Table Tennis Under 13 girls National Championships, Being seeded number 1 I felt extra pressure but as soon as the matches started I began to relax. I only lost 2 sets in the entire competition and won the final 3-o to take my first national title. The photo is of me receiving my winners trophy from the chairman of the English Schools Table Tennis Association

2nd Dan/ Holland

Last week did my grading for my 2nd Dan black belt. after lots of preparation and nerves i went into the grading room with a panel including 2 masters of taekwon-do. It all went alright (apart from getting kicked in the knee cap) and i also managed to break 2 inch think boards with my elbow and then with a side kick.
Found out that I passed which is great and top include to the good news I'm also going to Holland in a few weeks representing England with my squad (PUMA tae kwon-do). it's going to be my first competition as a 2nd Dan and competing in the ladies section, so fingers crossed!

AUSTRIAN WORLD CUP 2010

Hi there I have just returned from the Austrian World Cup .This was a martial arts event held in the Olympic Stadium in Innsbruck.

I was very lucky to get there having left the UK at 0730 on Thursday 17/04/10. That was the day the airtravel in the UK was all cancelled at 0900.

I initially thought that the competition was going to be a no go due to the rest of the british team not managing to get a flight out.

There was still over 2000 competitors from 28 other countries.

I was still going to have my work cut out with both the World Association Kickboxing Orginisation World Champion and the World Karate Association World Champion were both in attendance.

I was very fortunate that I was drawn in all cattagories to go out last.

I pulled out all stops to win three gold medals.I won the under 12 weapons and open hand forms competition and the under 16 weapons competition.I injured myself on my under 12 open hand form and decided to pull out of the under 16 open hand competition.

Above I am pictured on the podium with the WAKO world champion from Italy on the right and the WKA world champion from Chechz republic on the left.

Due to the flight problems I was unable to fly home and we were forced to travel by train through Switzerland to Amsterdam where we then got a minibus to Calais and finally a ferrie back to England.

It was a very long and stressful journey but I am hoping finances allowing I can travel to Italy and Serbia to represent Great Britain later in the year.

Photocalls for athletes from the Derbyshire Dales and North East Derbyshire

Many thanks to all the athletes who were able to attend the recent photocalls at the Town Hall in Matlock, and at Dronfield Sports Centre.

Photos from both events can now be found at http://www.flickr.com/derbyshiresport and full reports can be seen at http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/

The next photocall planned is currently for all the Derby-based athletes, on May 11. Photocalls for the High Peak, Bolsover, South Derbyshire and Erewash will also be held, so if you live within those areas you will be contacted soon.

4th Junior European Wushu Championships

Changquan Medal Presentation

The 4th European Junior Wushu Championships were held in Antalya, Turkey in March 7-12th 2010. Having been selected in the Team Selections earlier in the year, I had been preparing hard for the competition and looking forward to competing again.

My first event was Long Fist (Changquan) which took place on the Monday and I was drawn to perform first, scoring 8.95. Feeling I had done my best, I waited for all the other competitors to perform. The two professional athletes from Russia scored 8.74 and 8.77 so finished second and third respectively, the first time Russia had ever lost in this particular event in junior categories.

Having put all the excitement and happiness behind me, I concentrated on my two other categories, Straight Sword (jianshu) and Staff/Long Weapon (Gunshu). Again, having performed to the best of my abilities, I scored 8.94 and 8.73 respectively, which gave me another gold medal and one silver medal in Gunshu (0.04 behind Russia). Overall, I finished top of my age category by 0.13 over three categories. This has been one of my best achievements in any European Competition and it was a great result.

Overall, the competition had been another great experience for me having achieved such great results, a good repay for all the preparation and work that went in beforehand. Now, I am focusing on my A level exams before beginning the whole preparation process for the Junior World Championships in December, in Singapore.

Rouen International, France

Rouen used to be a very hard competition but this year it was very very poor. I was still recovering from my virus and was very weak. I still managed to win the gold medal but was not pleased with my judo. Hopefully I will feel better for my next competitions in Germany and Russia this month.