SAMURAI teams were in good form at the Bev Price Championships, which was staged at the Glades Leisure Centre.

The Wyre Forest club’s lightweight girls team were in awesome form, with Darcie Hancocks and Leah Grosvenor backed up by Ellie McAteer.

The trio cruised into the gold medal match, winning all of their matches emphatically, but in the final they were up against another strong side from Ealing Judo Club in London and were edged into silver 2-1.

In the girls heavyweights, Samurai fielded two teams.

The less experienced threesome of Toni Poulsom, Ellie Arnull and Sophie Pollitt had some good wins but missed out on the medals, finishing fifth.

But the more experienced team of Bryony Griffiths, Becky Hobby and Hetty Tinsdale had three good wins on their way to the semi-final before losing to eventual gold medalists Pinewood Judo Club from Berkshire.

However, the team was still able to grab the bronze medal with a 2-1 win over Pyrford.

The two Samurai boys’ lightweight teams had some tough matches.

The less experienced side of Cameron Hobby, Jake Ashen and Callum Spencer finished ninth, while the more battle worn side of James Hemer, Nathan Gallacher and Jack Walker clocked up a series of good wins but were edged into fifth-place by Pinewood and Pyrford.

The boys’ heavyweight team, with Walker, Sam Bravo and Joe Dunn, gave their all but finished seventh.

The men’s black belt team of Brendan Crummy, Alex Poulton and veteran Paul Moss started well by beating Oxford 2-1 and then Harlow 3-0 to reach the final against Midlands rivals Coventry.

Crummy was giving away a lot of weight away against a high quality player and lost, but then Poulton evened the score by winning.

But Moss tasted defeat and the men had to sette for silver.

The ladies black belts section is the flagship event of the tournament, which is held in memory of one of the club’s greatest ever female players.

However, Samurai were hit by a late training injury to Kate Walker and had to soldier on with just two players.

Nevertheless, Gemma Edwards and Laura Dangerfield had a good go, but lost out 2-1 to Oxford in the semi-final and had to settle for bronze.