Zane wins judo bronze at British Masters Open

Zane wins judo bronze at British Masters Open

10 October 2012

ZANE Lightfoot secured a deserved bronze medal at the British Masters Judo Open which was held recently at Queen’s University PEC in Belfast.

The local man was competing in the U-81kg category and came through his pool in first place to book a semi-final spot.

In an unprecedented move, in his second fight he took out his opponent with a spectacular throw, which resulted in the referee turning to the crowd after awarding the fight and encouraging them with hand signals to keep on cheering.

In the semi-final Zane had an opportunity in ground work to close the fight out, but took the safer route by holding out until a break was called in play.

The following section of play saw his strong osotogari attack countered by his opponent and a full point was taken away, leaving him with the bronze medal.

Later in the day the format became a grading (possible promotion) held in black belt level with Zane competing in the 4th Dan division and going for 5th Dan.

He won the first two matches by a full point, which gave him the opportunity to do a line of three fights back to back with no break to gain the grade. In his first match he came up against the silver medallist from his weight division and beat him comprehensively with uchimata. The second followed a similar route with uchimata sukashi.

The line-up for the final three fights looked daunting with the second of the three weighing in at a mere 120kg.

In the first fight his opponent attacked with an uchimata only to be countered by a well read move from Zane for ippon. In the second fight Zane followed the advice of his coach and fought the first part right handed, which gave the advantage of greater distance from attacks and increasing reaction time.

With over half the match gone, his opponent fully committed to a front attacking throw, giving Lightfoot an opening for his favourite pick-up Tegaruma. As soon as he ped in height he knew a change was needed and fast shifting to a flyer taniotoshi the big guy came down on his back for ippon.

The third and final match was a cagey affair zero opportunities until an inspired thought for Osotogari to haraigoshi came and the ippon was on the end of it.

After five wins a delighted Zane was congratulated by club mates, fellow competitors, coaches and referees from all over the UK for his performance.