Medal success for Dartford youngsters

The competition saw junior players from the London and southern regions competing for rostrum places and Dartford JC returned with an impressive medal haul.

In only his second contest, Ciaran Ronayne (U34kg group one boys) was drawn in the biggest populated group of the day with more than 20 rivals.

Having lost his first fight, Ronayne went on to win his first repecharge contest with an impressive tai-otoshi throw to score the maximum ippon to secure an outright win and progress closer to the medals.

Unfortunately, Ronayne narrowly lost the next contest, which ended his chances for the day.

Ceylon Giles (U36kgs group one girls) won her first contest in lightning speed time, throwing her opponent with a massive ippon scoring throw in the first 10 seconds.

Giles reached the semi final but lost to an opponent from one of Essex’s top clubs, Jodan, and finished fifth overall.

Tom Fisher and Conner Seal were both in action in the U30kg group one boys category.

Despite each losing their first round contests, the Dartford duo went on to win their next fights in style.

Fisher beat his next two opponents with ippon scoring throws and then went on to hold his next opponent for ippon to progress to the bronze medal fight.

He started well with an early score but was eventually overpowered by his opponent and had to settle for fifth place.

Seal won his next two contests against more experienced opponents in only his second competition.

He eventually finished seventh but as the youngest in the group, looks set to be a real contender in the future.

Patrick Sykes and Tommy Smith competed in the U38kg group one boys section.

Sykes won his first contest by ippon in his new weight but this was followed by a loss.

He came back even stronger to complete another two ippon wins from powerful throws and finished an impressive fifth in his group.

Smith, who had not fought at this level before, found himself drawn against more experienced competitors and despite two losses, gained some useful experience to build on in the future.

Max Shorter and Jack Glynn-Jones (U50kg group one boys) had to face each other in their weight group.

Shorter proved the more dominant of the two, throwing his Dartford team mate with a left-handed technique into a hold down to be awarded ippon after 25 seconds.

He went on to win all his contests and claim gold, with Glynn-Jones winning the bronze.

The Dartford duo also fought the sole O50kg entrant, both winning with ease.

Team mates Luke Kemp and Cameron Purewal (U42kg group two boys) quickly discovered their group had some top clubs fielding players.

Purewal was winning his first match when he was caught in a hold awkwardly and had to withdraw due to the injury.

Kemp managed to gain the bronze despite his inexperience within the group.

Ryan Cheale and Eric Whittaker (U60kg group two boys) both fought well, with Cheale securing two wins and Whittaker one.

The pair then found themselves drawn to fight each other in their last contest, which almost went to full time with the training partners both tiring.

Whittaker put in a last attack, which was enough to force Cheale to the ground where Whittaker pinned him to gain the ippon win.

The result turned the medals around, with Whittaker awarded the first bronze and Cheale the second one.

Last to fight on the day was Brayden Quinn (U38kg group two).

This was Quinn’s first competition at this weight group and he started well, although he also suffered a loss on route to the finals.

Quinn was left to fight off for the bronze and had a few small scores.

He tricked his opponent by forcing him to pull up when the Dartford fighter dropped underneath him to perform a show-stopping sacrificial tomoe-nage technique where he flipped his opponent over himself to land him flat on his back.

Ippon was duly awarded to the cheers of the crowd and Quinn gave a celebratory gesture to his club mates as he realised he had secured the bronze.