Double All Ireland glory for local Judo club

A number of athletes from Black Eagle Judo/Judo Assist Nenagh qualified for the prestigious All Ireland Judo Championships last month.

A team of five players (4 senior and 1 junior) travelled to Dublin with All Ireland glory on their minds. The tournament is one of the largest contested events of the Judo calendar, with players from the four corners of Ireland descending on the capital in search of All Ireland glory.

First up was Angela Bolescu in the ladies junior category. Angela was in great form and with great determination and skill progressed to the final where she produced the first gold medal of the day. Angela was also presented with the award of Best Junior Female Player of the competition.

Aoife Mulroy contested two of the largest senior ladies categories of the tournament, the middleweight division and the open division. Aoife who is currently a double All Ireland inter-varsity champion fought her way to the final of both categories and came away with both gold medals and titles. She was also presented with the Best Senior Female Player of the day.

Next up was the last of our female players Caitlin Heffernan, although she has a visual impairment she competed in the mainstream category where she had to work even harder than most and was rewarded with a very worthy bronze All Ireland medal. As a result of her achievement at this event, Caitlin now qualifies for the prestigious international Swiss VI Championship this June. We wish her all the best of luck on her adventure.

The two male sibling players, Valentin and Marius Dragomir competed in the hugely contested male middleweight categories. After narrowly missing out to the eventually group winners, both brothers when on to win All Ireland bronze medals in fantastic style.

 

To read more, pick up a copy of this weeks Nenagh Guardian locally or subscribe to our e-paper to access it online each Wednesday.