What a result

What a result

BOGLESTONE Judo Club enjoyed the greatest result in its history when Jim McKelvie grabbed gold and John McFetrich silver in a Commonwealth Games event. Melbourne, host of the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, decided to drop Judo from its programme. The Commonwealth Games Association had to look for another host nation for the sport and awarded the Northern Ireland Judo Federation the honour. The three-day event, held in the Templemore Sports Complex, Londonderry, welcomed 24 countries from across the Commonwealth to create the largest number of competitors in Commonwealth Games Judo to date. Representing Scotland were Boglestone duo Jim McKelvie, competing in the masters' 100+kgs, and John McFetrich, in the juniors' -90kgs. On the opening day of the event, Jim was part of a 10-strong masters team competing for medals in 28 categories. All competing members of the Scottish Masters team collected medals. Jim stormed through his fights, showing some of his best form, throwing with great variety to win all of his fights by ippon (10 points). It was to be an all Scottish heavyweight final, with Jim against Frank Taylor of the Edinburgh Club. Jim countered Frank's osoto gari by side-stepping and throwing with an oochi gari for ippon and a Commonwealth gold medal. On the final day of the event it was the turn of John McFetrich. John's recent medal wins at senior competitions in Elgin and Fort William made him a sure choice for the selectors. Fighting in the -90, he was giving away a few kilos in weight but this didn't stop John, who quickly showed why the selectors had made him their number one choice with ippon throws all the way to the final. The final was a long, hard-fought match with John losing by a yuko (five-point score) to his opponent.

This story appeared in the Greenock Telegraph on Mon, 03 Jul, 2006

Fonte: Greenock Telegraph - Greenock, Scotland, UK - http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/