IN the spectacular setting of the Palas De Sportas in the Italian city of Andria a combined Samurai and Coventry team reached the final of Citta Di Andria International tournament.

They came within a whisker of winning the competition, losing 9-8 to the Dutch in the final.

The Kidderminster club had received an invitation to field a team to represent England in the four-way international tournament. The squad would consist of 17 players and it was decided that Samurai would field a joint team with Coventry Judo Club.

The resulting line-up was James Hemer, Matthew Hemer, Darcie Hancocks, Nathan Gallacher, Leah Grosvenor, Lauren Fletcher, Bryony Griffiths, Rory Gulliver, Brendan Crummy and Arran Gulliver from the Samurai, plus Harry Tredaway, Marcin Dziemba, Chelsie Giles and Connor Hughes from Coventry.

With three British champions and four more British medallists among them, it was a strong team.

The English side got off to a racing start by thrashing Georgia 16-1 in an impressive display.

The Italians were up next and the English were again comfortable winners, this time by a score of 11-6.

This put them into the final against the team from Rotterdam in Holland. The Samurai/Coventry team was actually made up of just 13 players, with Bryony Griffiths and Chelsie Giles doubling up by fighting in two categories, but the Dutch objected to this.

As a result, the English had to concede the extra contests and so started the final 3-0 down.

Despite the setback they were narrowly edged out 9-8 and had to settle for silver.