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UEL Judo puts in strong showing at competitive debut

Wednesday 5 December 2012

UEL Judo

On their first competitive outing as a team, UEL Judo exceeded expectations and came away with five medals in total from seven entrants, including one gold, at the London Universities and Colleges Open Championship held recently at the University’s SportsDock.

Many of the team had only started training in September when sessions started up in UEL's new £21million facility. Two of those who recently took up Judo included the only female entry for UEL, Lucy Hunnisett (-63kg) and Polish-born Oskar Hatlas (-73kg), who both came away with silver medals, following narrow defeats in their finals by ippon.

Sussex judoka, Stephen Kent, featured in the +100kg category. After taking a two year sabbatical from the sport, and only having recently returned to training, he excelled in his two fights, winning both by ippon to take home UEL Judo's first gold medal of the season.

A third silver medal was won by Helder Fransesco (-73kg), another member of the team with previous Judo experience. A bronze medal was also won by newcomer, Kelly Kenubia (-81kg), who triumphed in his first two fights, only to lose in the semi-final.

Two UEL judoka just missed out in their bronze medal fights - the team's most experienced judoka, Latvian-born Artjom 'Tim' Smirnov (-66kg) and newcomer Youseff Badr El Din (-73kg) who eagerly awaits his next competition.

UEL Judo coach, Denny Roberts, was pleased with his team's performance. He said: “Considering for many of them it was their first competition, I thought they did brilliantly. To come away with a few medals is great for them and the University.”

UEL Sports scholar and African championship bronze medallist Szandra Szogedi, who was instrumental in setting up the UEL Judo team, was thrilled by the results. Szandra said: “They all did so well. Those who hadn't competed before loved every minute of the day, and I am so proud of them all.”

The team will now focus its efforts towards the British Universities & Colleges Sport Judo Championships 2013 at Sheffield in February, where they hope to pick up more medals and bring UEL closer to its goal of being the best university for sport in London by 2015.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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