Hong Kong Junior Judo Team Championships
          September 2, 2001, Kowloon Park           

At the end of the summer and after only 2 days training, Global Sports entered the above competition.  

The team had to comprise of 6 players and their combined body weights had to weigh no more than 230 kg.  The day prior to competition the team were 4 kg over so we were all apprehensive prior to the official weigh-in.

The team weighed in and made the stipulated weight.  First step successful.

6 players weigh in, only 5 players fight.  The team’s first fight was very successful with every one scoring IPPON within the first minute.  The next step is to get in the semi-final, this round was just as successful again the whole team scored IPPON.

The last step was the final against South China Athletics Association.  They too had proven to be a strong team for their opponents.

The first fight young Greg was thrown for 2 wazari = 1 ippon.  We were 1-0 down.  Second fight Nicolas scored an easy IPPON.  Team score 1-1.  The third fight was Chris committed a penalty subsequently giving their team a 3 point score and they scored a yuko (5 point score). This was how it ended score 1-2 SCAA.  Fourth fight Pascal scored the fastest IPPON of the day: 2 seconds.  Team score 2-2.

Last fight, Keelan attacked strong.  No score given. SCAA scored a koka (3 points) at the last 40 sec, Keelan took a knock to his left knee which he previously injured in round 2.  Unfortunately we lost the last fight so SILVER was ours.

It was a very long day for everyone.  The supporters for the team were great.

Here are our heroes:

Player No. 1: Michael Lin – Clearwater Bay School

Player No. 2: Greg Berchtold – American Club

Player No. 3: Nicolas Festl – German Swiss International School

Player No. 4: Christopher Coverdale – Hong Kong Football Club

Player No. 5: Pascal Reitmann – German Swiss International School

Player No. 6: Keelan Chapman – Kennedy School

Team Coach: Donald McNeil

Team Manager: Shirley McNeil

This is only the 2^nd time that Global Sports have entered the captioned competition. 
Silver Place is fantastic after such a long absence from the mat.

Well done to everyone.  Big thank you to all the parents for their time and support to make this team possible.                                                         

 Donald McNeil