Crummy enjoys golden Dutch delight (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Crummy enjoys golden Dutch delight

11:00am Friday 2nd November 2012 in Local

BRENDAN Crummy savoured golden success as Samurai won seven medals at the Dai-Ippo Judo Tournament in Holland.

More than 70 European clubs entered the two-day, 1000-player event, with the Kidderminster club fielding 11 players.

Crummy was first on the mat on Saturday in the young men’s section and gave the club an immediate lift by winning three contests in spectacular style, all by maximum points, to reach the final.

He then won the final similarly emphatically, again by maximum points, to take the gold in style.

Laura Dangerfield and Sarah Biles were both competing in the senior women’s section in the same category.

Biles defeated the eventual gold medallist by maximum points, but could only see off her club-mate by a low score and despite another maximum point win she finished with 25 points to her opponent’s 27 and had to settle for silver.

Frankie Marston added a second silver to the tally in the young women’s section while Nathan Gallacher finished in fifth after being eliminated by the referees after his last match finished scoreless.

Becky Hobby, who recently won the Welsh Open, found the older juniors section much tougher but still did well, with one particularly smart counter throw for maximum points before finishing in fifth place.

Bryony Griffiths, who won the British Championships two weeks ago, adopted the same all-out attacking style at this event and this soon gave her a series of fine wins on her way to the final.

For long periods in the final she dominated the match, but was caught by a throw with seconds left on the clock which decided the match.

There was then a play-off between silver and bronze against an impresive Swedish girl and again Griffiths dominated but was this time caught by a groundwork move and had to settle for bronze.

On the Sunday, Matthew Hemer started in style, winning his way to the quarter-final before being caught with a good throw. Hemer reached the bronze play-off after the repechage, which he won with a superb shoulder throw.

Younger brother James started well his second which he won with a groundhold, and then produced a superb throw for maximum points in his third match to put himself into the bronze play-off which he lost.

Leah Grosvenor started well, winning her first two contests before defeat in her third ended her chances of taking the gold. However, she came back well to win the bronze.

Darcie Hancocks bounced back from defeat to a powerful opponent to win the next four contests to take bronze.