Leah Grosvenor shines for Samurai
Leah Grosvenor led the way as Samurai Judo Club enjoyed a successful trip north of the border.
Grosvenor claimed a superb gold medal in the Sportif Scottish Open Championships fighting in a higher age group and also picked up a silver in her own age bracket.
Olivia Turner also impressed as she picked up two bronzes in the event at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh, which featured players from 15 different countries including Canada and Brazil.
Grosvenor comfortably defeated both British and European opponents on her way to the final of her own age group (under-18).
In the final, she was up against Scotland’s Josie Steele, the undisputed current British No.1 and the only player other than Grosvenor to win a ranking event this year.
Grosvenor dominated the standing work and rocked her opponent, but when they went to the ground she was caught by a very strong turnover into a hold and had to settle for silver.
But Grosvenor, who has just turned 15, completed dominated the under-21 section. With Steele electing not to compete at this level, she won all four of her contests without conceding a single score to take the gold.
Turner also entered both the under-18 and 21 sections and was rewarded as she won the bronze play-off clashes in each category.
Meanwhile, there was a young players’ event at Samurai’s Kidderminster base which was, attended by over 20 clubs.
It was a good day for the Turner family, with Evan and Rhea Turner both taking gold medals, while there were silvers for Mateo Allen, Dillon Walker, Harry Ashen, and Martin Allen.
There was also a silver for exciting newcomer Harriet Payne-Lunn, whose mum is a former high standard competition player and black belt.
There were some new names among the bronze medalists as well, with Oliver Handley, Freya Payne, Leo Lloyd-Williams and Edward Martin all marking their competition debut with medals.
Isaac Sobolewski was unlucky not to win gold after defeating eventual gold medalist but losing out on points overall, while Joshua Walker, Meghann O’Sullivan, Lucy Hickinbotttom, Bonnie Deeming-Land and Lola Grosvenor added bronzes to the Samurai total.
