FIVE fighters from Swindon Judo Club competed in the Eurometropole International Master Judo Open held in Lille - and veteran Craig Curtis led the charge with a silver medal.
The event is universally known as the strongest masters tournament outside of the European and World Championships with 400 compeitors from 18 nations taking part.
Paul Daultrey, Pete Hall and Lee Adams all more than held their own against strong foreign opposition but failed to make the latter stages in their respected categories.
Roy Walker fought extremely well, reaching the semi-final where he fought the current world silver medallist, Fabrice Piccio of France. With no score at the end of the contest, the match went into golden score, with Picco making the decisive move to take the match. This put Walker into the bronze medal fight against a strong Ukrainian, who edged him out of the medals on a single score in another tight contest.
Curtis was last to fight, competing in the men’s super heavyweight division, defeating fighters from Belgium, France and Russia to make the semis against Bigareau of France - the current European bronze medallist.
Curtis made short work of the contest, throwing the Frenchman in the first minute to set up a clash with old rival Maltzhiev of Russia. On this occasion the Russian had the edge, taking the contest on a small penalty score leaving Curtis in the silver medal position.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here