Small team for judo

Press, 29 March 1980, Page 21

Small team for judo

Increasing costs of travel are directly responsible for the small size of the Canterbury judo team which is in Palmerston •North this week-end for the national championships.

A team of only eight — quite a lot smaller than usual, according to the Canterbury judo area’s publicity officer, Mr Lyndsey Holmes — has made the trip north. Some judo players cannot afford a trip at all this year while others are missing this tournament and instead saving their money for the junior men’s (14 to 20 years) championships at Napier in July. ’ One exponent who is competing is the light middleweight, Graeme Spinks, already $l2OO out of pocket after representing New Zealand in last month’s Pacific Rim cham-

pionships at Honolulu. The question mark about his likely performance is the possibility of a surfeit of judo in recent months. Heading the list of team members is the fourth dan, Ivor Endicott-Davies, who has developed a high standard after two visits to Japan. He will be defending his light heavyweight title.

Mr Holmes will himself be competing in that light heavyweight division and says it will probably be his last nationals as a competitor. He has had to restrict his training because of a torn groin muscle but is hopeful that rest has done it good.

The rest of the team is Michael Smith, Graham Jones, Philip 'McSweeney and a father-and-daughter combination of Eddie and Judith Bruce (aged 15). Jones (a middleweight)

and McSweeney are both Ashburton men who travel to Christchurch once or twice a week to train. McSweeney is a new member and shows promise, according to Mr Holmes.

Smith, aged 20, is another up-and-coming player and he is expected to perform well in the middeweight This will be the last time the Bruces are seen in action for a while in this country. Eddie Bruce, a lightweight, is an army ■officer and will soon be transferred to Singapore with his family. Mr> Holmes says that Canterbury holds a very good record in the championships and he believes it will be maintained this week-end. “We’ve been training pretty hard since Christmas and the basic fitness of the team is very good,” he said.