North West Senior Open Championships 2004

Three senior players from Burnley Judo Club recently fought in the prestigious North West Open judo competition. Alex Green continues to impress in every tournament he enters; this one being no exception. Alex scored clean victories in his first two fights, neither of which passed the twenty second mark, as he displayed some very powerful judo. In his third fight, Alex held his opponent down for the required twenty-five seconds to win yet another Gold medal. Chris Cummings (snr) however, had a day he would probably prefer to forget. After losing his first fight, Chris was involved in an accidental clash of heads in his second contest, receiving an injury that forced him to retire hurt from the event. Chris Cummings (jnr) continues to display maturity with every event he attends. The 16 year-old player often finds himself matched against opponents twice his age, but is never intimidated by this. Despite leading for most of his first fight, Chris was unlucky to be caught in the last few seconds by his more experienced opponent, to narrowly lose his opening contest. In his second contest, the young Burnley player again gave away a lot of experience, yet proved a match for his opponent as the contest went the full distance, only for Chris to lose by the smallest of points score, proving he can compete with older players at this level of the sport.

C. Cummings. February 2004