"February 15-17, 2018, iceSheffield, Coleridge Road, Sheffield, S9 5DA

10 male CUJC members competed in BUCS in 2019:

Individuals: Yutian Wu (M, -90kg, Kyu grade), Peter Hampshire (M, -60kg, Dan Grade), Patrick Sykes (M, -73kg, 1st Kyu), Tom Dendooven (M, -90kg, Dan grade), James Edgeley (M, -100kg, Dan grade), Azamat Kumykov (M, -66kg, Kyu grade), Kelvin Leung (M, -81kg, Kyu Grade), Mihai Varsandan (M, -81kg, Kyu grade), David Benjamin Grys (M, -81kg, Kyu grade), Caitlin Sargeant (F, -57kg, Kyu Grade Category) 

Men’s Team: Peter Hampshire (M, -60kg, Dan Grade), Patrick Sykes (M, -73kg, 1st Kyu), Stelios Sarantellis (M, -81kg, Dan grade), Tom Dendooven (M, -90kg, Dan grade), James Edgeley (M, -100kg, Dan grade), Mihai Varsandan (M, -81kg, Kyu grade)

Individual competitions, Saturday 16 Feb 2019:

What a great BUCS weekend it was for CUJC. 11 athletes (10M, 1F) and 5 CUJC coaches travelled to Sheffield to represent the university at the annual BUCS championships. All competitors won at least one fight in their category. Peter Hampshire lost his first fight but quickly changed his mind set and convincingly won all following fights, securing the Bronze medal at the -60kg Dan grades division.

Mihai Varsandan, who had just recovered from a broken hand, fought his way to the semi-finals, where a small mistake cost him the fight. In the repechage Mihai beat his opponent within a minute, securing the second bronze of the day in the -81kg division, Kyu grades.

James Edgeley won his first fight against a really tough opponent but lost his second fight against the technically gifted and former national player Sebastian Potter. In his third fight, James won by Ippon, securing the silver medal in the -100kg Dan grade division. In the -90kg Dan grade division CUJC Men’s captain Tom won his first 2 fights, but incurred a shoulder injury in the semi-finals of his pool, where he lost against the eventual gold medallist. In the repechage, Tom would have to win three more fights to secure the bronze medal, given the large number of competitors in the -90kg category. Tom quickly won his first two repechage fights but lost in the fight for bronze against Oliver Plat, a former national player from Durham University, securing a fifth place in the -90kg Dan grade division.

Azamat Kumykov entered in the -66 Kyu grade division, together with 30+ other competitors. Azamat lost his first fight, but then fought his way back to the match for bronze after winning 4 consecutive fights hard-and-fast. After a very close fight for bronze Azamat lost and ended 5th in one of the biggest weight categories at BUCS.

The Judo Club's Women's Captain, Caitlin Sargeant, was the only woman from the Cambridge University Judo Club to compete at BUCS this year. She competed in a group of 7 other competitors, winning all three of her fights to secure a gold medal for the University.

With 1 gold medal (Caitlin Sargeant, F), 1 silver medal, 2 bronze medals, and 2 5-th places, we look back at one of the most successful BUCS years for CUJC.

Team competition, Sunday 17 Feb 2019

After winning 4 medals at the individual event, the Cambridge Men’s Team and 4 coaches stayed for the second day of the BUCS weekend to represent Cambridge University at the team event. 16 teams had entered the team competition and the Cambridge University team (Peter, Patrick, Stelios, Mihai, Tom and James) ended up in a pool with London, Loughborough and Plymouth. We knew London was the team to beat in our pool, and it was a close match, but Cambridge managed to secure the win with the excellent mat-side coaching from our 4 coaches.

Loughborough and Plymouth were next, and after two quick wins, Cambridge won their pool of 4, advancing to the quarter finals against Leeds. The CUJC men were determined to advance to the semi-finals and Leeds would not stop them, despite their heavier team.

In the semi-finals, Nottingham, who had just beaten Oxford, the last year’s winners, were waiting. At this point Tom and James had to stop fighting due to injuries, and Nottingham secured the win against CUJC. In the fight for Bronze, Cambridge would face Oxford, who always have a strong team and won the BUCS team competition last year. Despite the injuries in the team, Cambridge beat Oxford with a 3-2 score and was able to win a bronze medal at the team event. With 4 individual medals and a team bronze medal at BUCS 2019, we very much look forward to BUCS 2020, where we will be even stronger, and hopefully injury-free.