Judo Champions at ESC

Yen and Mai LE – National level Judo champions at ESC

On the 10th June, Yen LE (Year 10) and Mai LE (Year 7), flew up to Gold Coast, QLD to compete in the Nationals Judo Competition. 

“I was a bit nervous! We hadn’t competed in so long due to the pandemic and there were so many judokas from the other states, I was so agitated and jumpy” _Yen

“I fought on the day right after we got there on 11th June. I was so nervous, I had already fought some of the girls in my division before and they were really, really good.” _Mai 

Mai had 5 people in her division, so she had to win her first one to progress into the semi-finals. She won her first fight in less than 30 seconds with 2 *wazaris. Mai moved into the semi-finals with her whole state behind her, cheering her on. Unfortunately, Mai lost her second fight but her performance impressed many. 

Mai won bronze and is a national champion of 2022 at the age of 12. 

“It was nerve-wracking, as soon as I stepped on the mat. The girl I was fighting looked at me like she was about to rip my head off” _Mai

Yen fought on 12th June and had 7 people in her division, which meant she had to fight at least three people to have a shot at the gold medal. 

“The girl I fought first was a whole head taller than me, she looked at me like I was a floppy piece of meat. I knew I had to stay lower than her because she was so much taller but I tried to go around her head and gave her a wazari.  I was lucky I was able to take it back with an #ippon” _Yen

“I think I my second fight was one of the toughest fights I’ve ever fought. It went for almost 4 minutes straight. I was so tired I wanted to face plant on the mat. I nearly had her in a strangle, but I missed my chance and she threw me when we had 20 seconds left for a wazari.” _Yen 

* Wazari: 1 point; you need 2 wazaris to win                                                                                                   

 # Ippon: Instant win