NUIG Judo Club sweep the boards

THE men’s judo team from NUIG took gold at the All-Ireland University Championships held over the weekend in Galway. This year’s event was hosted by NUIG Judo Club and was held in the Lawn Tennis Club in Salthill last Saturday.

The NUIG five person team defeated the reigning champions, a strongly fancied TCD team, in the final by three wins to two. The final was a fiercely fought contest with the lead changing on a number of occasions. The scores were two wins each going into the final nailbiting bout. 

Jake Walsh of NUIG was facing a strong TCD opponent, who had remained unbeaten on the team for the previous two years. However, Walsh upset the odds and threw his opponent within six seconds, taking the contest to secure the title for the second time in three years. 

This extends the club’s incredible Intervarsity record of 11 ladies team titles and nine men’s team titles since first winning the team double in 1988. The NUIG men’s B team took bronze in this event, while the ladies team captured bronze.

Of the 13 individual events in the men’s categories, NUIG took six gold medals in all. Most notable of these was the open event. This was an all NUIG final with Stephen Bradshaw prevailing over his team-mate Darren Friel. Riad Cheikh of NUIG took joint third with Jamie Kevney McMahon of ITT.  This title was last won by NUIG in 1998 by Gerry Conway.

The club captured a total of 18 medals in the individual events – six gold, four silver and eight bronze, dominating the men’s upper weight categories. There were also some fine performances from Adam Ahmed of NUIG who extended his unbeaten record in the team event to fiveyears, and also took gold in the upper belt category for the 3rd year in succession. 

Meabh Weldon won silver in the ladies under 70kg category with Marina Sokolosakaya, captain of the club, taking bronze in the middle belt category. 

The Club, which was formed in 1965 and will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015, can now look forward to next year’s event which is being hosted by University College Cork. NUIG Judo Club would like to thank Kathy Hynes and the staff in the sports unit in NUIG, along with the staff in the Kingfisher Sports Centre. 

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.