OLIVIA Turner got her year off to a good start with double gold at the Warwick University Open Championships.

The seventeen-year-old Samurai Judo Club player started off in her own weight group, under 78 kilos, and won all three of her matches by maximum points to take the gold. She then also entered the open weight category and three more good wins, all by maximum points, earned her a second gold.

As three of her six wins were against black belts, it earned Olivia another 30 points towards her second level black belt. She now just needs one more win.

Veteran Rob Starbuck also had a go, giving away twenty years in age in some cases, and did well to secure the bronze medal in his category.

Samurai have changed some of their session times around to best meet the needs to their players. Mondays is now a select group, different each week, focusing on different things: kata one week, fitness the next, grading syllabus at different levels and so on. Tuesdays remains a junior session for experienced players followed by a senior one, with that senior session now being the main one for all their top seniors. Thursdays starts with their special needs group, then another experienced players session, juniors and seniors, followed by a short technical session with guest coaches. Fridays is a younger juniors session followed by the main junior beginners group.

For details about starting judo, call 0776 1122977 or visit the Samurai website on samurai.org.uk or their Facebook page.