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	VICTORIOUS at	USISTXIII

This year (2010) three combined London teams (including students from Imperial and ULU) entered USIST XIII, the student judo competition hosted by Sheffield University which has become the biggest non official international tournament held in the UK. Each team was comprised of six players; two women and four men, fighting in weight order. The team with the highest number of wins at the end of each match progresses to the next round. The London B and C teams included mostly Imperial students. In the pool stage London B faced Sheffield A, who proved to be a much more experienced team beating London B convincingly. The other pool fight London B had against Southampton A, was much more competitive with captain Kwasi Kwakwa winning his fight and heavyweight Ualikhan Yesbolov (an ex-wrestler) successfully beating his opponent.
London C, captained by Joe Skerman-Gray, also faced tough opposition in their pool. After losing all fights to Newcastle A, the team fought back well against Nottingham B. New member Pasha Normahani nicely caught his opponent with a hip throw and Lucien Copus sealed his win on the ground with a hold down. The match ended at 3 wins each, London C were unlucky not to progress into the next round but went out of the competition on points difference.
The London A team consisting of; -57kg Bronwyn Dawson (Imperial), +57kg Sarah Taylor (ULU - Captain), -73kg Edouard Desclaux (Imperial), -81kg Rahul Bose (Imperial), -90kg Ben Browne (Imperial), +90kg Constantine Lerounis (ULU), had high hopes for the competition this year. The team won the pool stage, beatingManchester B and Warwick B with ease and progressed to the last 16 where they faced and beat Southampton. In the quarter-final London A came up against what promised to be the hardest match of the day against last year’s winners, Munster A (Germany). London A started very strongly with Bronwyn, Sarah, and Ed winning their fights. However narrow losses in the next three fights meant the match ended tied on 3 wins each. As there was no points difference to separate the two teams, a weight category chosen at random would fight again to decide the outcome. The -57kg category was drawn and Bronwyn stepped up to the mark and beat her opponent with a counter attack to a leg sweep in a breath taking decider, allowing London to progress forward in the competition. London A comfortably won the semi-final against Aberystwyth (Wales); Bronwyn won her fight quickly but Sarah’s much larger opponent proved more difficult for her. After losing a point early in the match, she fought back forcing her opponent to concede penalties and eventually won the fight after the full time had elapsed. Ed, Rahul and Ben all won convincingly but Constantine struggled in the hands of a stronger opponent. London A finished the match winning 5-1.
This put us into the final against Warwick A, who the Imperial men had come up against last year at BUCS. Bronwyn lost the first fight, but then Sarah, Ed and Rahul all won giving a 3-1 lead to London A. One more win was needed to wrap up the match, and the competition. Ben started strongly with some nice shoulder throw attacks but after going into groundwork was caught in a hold down for a few seconds. Bridging with agility he managed to escape the hold and completely turn the situation around trapping his opponent in a hold down. After the official 25 seconds had elapsed, the referees announced the winner, leaving the sports hall in chaos. The remaining fight was lost by Constantine, but the victory had already been secured by London A; the match ended 4-2 and the trophy was returned to its rightful owners for the first time in 4 years.

This year (2010) three combined London teams (including students from Imperial and ULU) entered USIST XIII, the student judo competition hosted by Sheffield University which has become the biggest non official international tournament held in the UK. Each team was comprised of six players; two women and four men, fighting in weight order. The team with the highest number of wins at the end of each match progresses to the next round.

The London B and C teams included mostly Imperial students. In the pool stage London B faced Sheffield A, who proved to be a much more experienced team beating London B convincingly. The other pool fight London B had against Southampton A, was much more competitive with captain Kwasi Kwakwa winning his fight and heavyweight Ualikhan Yesbolov (an ex-wrestler) successfully beating his opponent.

London C, captained by Joe Skerman-Gray, also faced tough opposition in their pool. After losing all fights to Newcastle A, the team fought back well against Nottingham B. New member Pasha Normahani nicely caught his opponent with a hip throw and Lucien Copus sealed his win on the ground with a hold down. The match ended at 3 wins each, London C were unlucky not to progress into the next round but went out of the competition on points difference.

The London A team consisting of; -57kg Bronwyn Dawson (Imperial), +57kg Sarah Taylor (ULU - Captain), -73kg Edouard Desclaux (Imperial), -81kg Rahul Bose (Imperial), -90kg Ben Browne (Imperial), +90kg Constantine Lerounis (ULU), had high hopes for the competition this year. The team won the pool stage, beatingManchester B and Warwick B with ease and progressed to the last 16 where they faced and beat Southampton. In the quarter-final London A came up against what promised to be the hardest match of the day against last year’s winners, Munster A (Germany). London A started very strongly with Bronwyn, Sarah, and Ed winning their fights. However narrow losses in the next three fights meant the match ended tied on 3 wins each. As there was no points difference to separate the two teams, a weight category chosen at random would fight again to decide the outcome. The -57kg category was drawn and Bronwyn stepped up to the mark and beat her opponent with a counter attack to a leg sweep in a breath taking decider, allowing London to progress forward in the competition. London A comfortably won the semi-final against Aberystwyth (Wales); Bronwyn won her fight quickly but Sarah’s much larger opponent proved more difficult for her. After losing a point early in the match, she fought back forcing her opponent to concede penalties and eventually won the fight after the full time had elapsed. Ed, Rahul and Ben all won convincingly but Constantine struggled in the hands of a stronger opponent. London A finished the match winning 5-1.

This put us into the final against Warwick A, who the Imperial men had come up against last year at BUCS. Bronwyn lost the first fight, but then Sarah, Ed and Rahul all won giving a 3-1 lead to London A. One more win was needed to wrap up the match, and the competition. Ben started strongly with some nice shoulder throw attacks but after going into groundwork was caught in a hold down for a few seconds. Bridging with agility he managed to escape the hold and completely turn the situation around trapping his opponent in a hold down. After the official 25 seconds had elapsed, the referees announced the winner, leaving the sports hall in chaos. The remaining fight was lost by Constantine, but the victory had already been secured by London A; the match ended 4-2 and the trophy was returned to its rightful owners for the first time in 4 years.