Samurai duo win awards (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Samurai duo win awards

11:00am Thursday 13th December 2012 in Local

SAMURAI Judo Club picked up three accolades at the British Judo Volunteer Awards, with two going to Brendan Crummy and one to Amanda Curley.

Crummy, 16, received an award for British Junior Referee Of The Year and another for British Junior Official of The Year.

He was the only person to be short-listed for two awards, while Curley was named British Senior Referee.

Meanwhile, the club took four medals at their prestigious Senior High Grades and Masters Open.

The Masters veterans section went first, and Rob Alloway was unlucky to miss out on a medal, finishing fifth in the lightest men’s category.

However, their other entrant, Mike Marsden, edged past black belts from Wolverhampton and Erdington to reach the final, where he lost to an experienced player from Berkshire’s Pinewood club.

Samurai fielded three men in the first level black belt section.

Crummy, despite being bleary-eyed from the awards evening the night before, clocked up four wins to top his group and reach the knockout stages, with Alex Poulton also qualifying first in his group with three wins.

However, Crummy took a knock in the opening round and was forced to retire.

Poulton had a bye and then another win to reach the semi-finals, where he was narrowly beaten in a tough battle, before bouncing back to win bronze.

Paul Clarke was making a comeback in the second level black belts category after a long period training, and he had two wins and was unlucky to finish just outside the medals in fifth place.

Ben Newbury was in the third level black belt category, and three victories took him into the final against a Plymouth player, who just edged him out.

In the ladies, Jess Sullivan missed out on a medal in the brown belt category, finishing fifth.

Gemma Edwards and Laura Dangerfield both contested the first level black belts category, and three wins from the latter earned her the bronze medal — even though she beat the eventual gold medalist.

Edwards beat her club-mate but finished just outside the medals in fifth place.