DARTFORD Judo Club’s Suki Barton triumphed in her comeback by winning two medals at the British masters judo championships in Walsall.

The competition is a veterans’ event held annually for UK judo players over the age of thirty.

It is divided by weights and age bands, although this year the women's category was not age banded due to entry numbers.

Barton, who is a club coach and the press and publicity officer at Dartford JC, made her debut at the prestigious event and picked up two medals in her first competition for 12 years.

She won the gold and the title of British masters judo champion 2008 in the under-57kg category.

Due to low entries in the light weights, Barton was offered the rare opportunity of fighting in the next weight group above her own.

She won her first pool fight in the under-63kg contest when she countered her opponent’s technique with her own backwards throw, landing her rival flat on her back for the maximum score of ippon and automatically finishing the fight.

There was a moment of controversy when the referee incorrectly awarded the win to the loser, although the mistake was quickly corrected by the other officials.

Barton also won her second pool fight and was unlucky in her third contest having been a wazari up in the match to eventually lose after a delay in the judges upgrading her opponent’s score to ippon.

She was now through to the semi-final, where she came up against local hero Lesley Farnell, a double world masters champion and a double medallist at the last two world masters.

Farnell's weight advantage and experience proved too much for Barton, who got caught on a powerful guruma technique and was wheeled on to the mat with ippon awarded to Farnell.

The Dartford fighter had to settle for the bronze, while Farnell went on to easily win the final and take gold.

Barton is looking forward to joining fellow club veterans, world masters champion (under-48kg) Mandy Humphreys and world masters bronze medallist (under-81kg) William Sargent Senior, in being called up to the British Masters squad.

Dartford's youngest members were also celebrating not only their coach's success, but also winning the coloured belt.

The belt is an incentive run for the youngest members as they are too young for gradings and contests.

It is won if a member demonstrates the spirit of judo and each winner’s name appears on the belt with the overall winner being the player whose name appears the most. The winner was Michaela Hill.

Due to the success of Dartford's Ben Quilter at the Paralympics, Dartford JC looks set to become the home of visual impaired judo in the UK.

The UK squad currently consists of four members and the British Judo Association would like to build a full team of 14 for the 2012 Paralympics.

Dartford is looking for suitable candidates of all ages and ability.

For more information, call Dartford JC on 01322 222071.