Hackney Judo Club

A massive well done to our four female judoka who attended the first ever female only judo festival in London on Saturday.
Our players represented the club with positive energy throughout and competed to a brilliant level. Our Juniors; Scarlett, Shai & Sarah worked really hard in their groups demonstrating some of the technical elements that we have been working on at training! Then we have Leigh who competed in her first ever judo competition with us. She worked extremely hard, having a number of extra fights to give others girls some matches. Leigh pulled off an exceptional Ko Uchi Gari and managed to execute Juji Gatame on three different occasions showing her strength on the ground.
Leigh was also awarded a judo gi for her support of other judoka and excellent performance on the day.

Well done everyone. We are extremely proud of you all!!!

Thank you A1 Judo Club for hosting the event. Thank you Sensei Beth for coaching.

London Area Judo

THE PHENOMENON OF NAOHISA TAKATO 🇯🇵

At just 1.60 metres tall, Naohisa Takato proved that greatness in judo is not measured in centimetres.

His record is extraordinary:

🥇 Olympic champion — Tokyo 2020
🥉 Olympic bronze medallist — Rio 2016
🌍 Four-time world champion — 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2022
🏆 11 Grand Slam gold medals
🥇 World junior champion — 2011
🥇 World cadet champion — 2009

But numbers explain only part of his phenomenon.

Takato was one of the most creative and unpredictable judoka of his generation. His tomoe-nage, ko-uchi-gari, kata-guruma and lightning-fast transitions into ne-waza could come from almost any angle.

He did not simply perform techniques. He found new solutions during every fight.

His road to Olympic gold made his legacy even more special. After winning bronze in Rio, he returned at his home Olympics under enormous pressure.

In the Tokyo semi-final, Takato survived an epic contest lasting more than eleven minutes against Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov. He then defeated Yang Yung-wei in the final and delivered Japan’s first gold medal of Tokyo 2020.

In 2022, at the age of 29, he became world champion for the fourth time — nine years after winning his first world title. Such longevity in the incredibly fast and competitive -60 kg division is exceptional.

In March 2026, Naohisa Takato announced his retirement from competitive judo. The athlete has left the tatami, but his ideas and influence will remain.

Small in stature. Enormous in judo.

That is the phenomenon of Naohisa Takato.

Where do you rank him among the greatest -60 kg judoka of all time?

Almost 40 of you came together from our 3 London community clubs train at our Summer training camp earlier this week. Thank you to all our visitors you were fantastic and worked hard!

London Area Judo

It’s been a very busy weekend as the team travelled to Bath for the Western Area Open. This was a brilliant last event for the summer before a number of our players change age bands.

On Saturday we had our veterans, seniors and minors on action.

Jordann and Beth were first up in the senior section and made their way through to their respective finals both just missing out on the top spot however both earned more GBR ranking points and each earned a further 10 points towards their 3rd Dans.

Next up Connie worked really hard in her group earning two wins, listening well and finishing with a brilliant bronze medal!

Sensei Calvin & Dom continued the momentum picking up nice wins earning silver and gold respectively in their veterans categories.

Then on Sunday it was the turn of our precadets Annabelle and Iris who both attended their last Precadet event and began to show there ready for the next step in their journey from September where they turn cadets. Iris claimed silver and Annabelle gold in their respective categories.

Well done to everyone who travelled and competed we are very proud of you all.

Results:
Annabelle 🥇
Dom 🥇
Sensei Calvin 🥈
Sensei Beth 🥈
Sensei Jordann 🥈
Iris 🥈
Connie 🥉

On Sunday there were so many brilliant individual performances from the team who competed at the shizentai Rumble championships in Hertfordshire.

This was an opportunity for one last event for our young ones before a small summer break from events for this group of players. This was a unique opportunity for our youngest competitor Kamiyah to take part in her first ever competition and in one of the stand out performances of the day she thew and held her way to the Gold medal winning all 3 of her contests. She is over the moon and we are all so proud of her.

Huge thank you to our coaches Beth O'Connor and Calvin Walker-Hall for their hard work and all our supportive parents.

Well done all keep up the great work 😊

Results:
Gold
Kamiyah 🥇
Olivia 🥇
Ciara 🥇
Layla 🥇

Silver
Anala 🥈
Zayneb 🥈
Younes 🥈
Isa 🥈

Bronze
KP 🥉
Younes 🥉

London Area Judo

Well done to the 16 club members who came together on Saturday to complete the BJA Kanji awards.

This course and qualification provides a pathway for young judoka who have already begun to show an interest and potential in coaching, refereeing and officiating to begin their journey and assist their coaches as club assistants.

Depending on where their interests lay our members completed the separate modules as required guided by our clubs coaches Sensei Calvin and Sensei Beth who are qualified BJA referees and officials.

In the future we hope to run another course for our members. Our club will also continue to develop fully qualified referees and officials in support of the future of British Judo.

All members did fantastically and we are so proud of them all.


London Area Judo