JUDO: Britain looking for leading role

JUDO

BY PHILIP NICKSAN

The British Judo Association is to make a bid to host the World Championships in Birmingham in 1999 or 2001. This follows the success of the European Championships in the city last weekend which was attended by most of the leading figures of the International Judo Federation, including Ukemitsu Kano, the grandson of Jigoro Kano, the founder of the sport.

This is all part of a concerted plan by the association to take a more prominent role in European and world judo, after some 20 years as visitors to tournaments abroad.

The European Championships were an undoubted success in many ways. The British judo fraternity could not have asked for more in terms of medals - seven, including two golds, from 14 competitors is a handsome return in anyone's terms, and put Britain in second place (from 41 countries) in the medal table.

The gold medals were particularly encouraging. For Great Britain anything less than the European title from the world lightweight champion, Nicola Fairbrother, would have been a disappointment. She knew it but still produced the goods. "In the final I knew I couldn't let the pressure get to me," she said. "I knew I couldn't take any stupid risks but I had to feel free enough to go out and throw." She did exactly that.

The men's European title won by Nigel Donohue - five years after a silver medal signalled his potential - was of enormous relief to Britain's Neil Adams, the 1981 world champion. "We have broken through with Nigel at last - we all knew that he could do it," Adams said.

The overall success was a credit to the coaching squad of Adams who, with a team of young coaches, has built on the legacy he has inherited, especially in the women's squad.

But there is more than success on the mat involved in bidding for a world championships. First of all, the Birmingham event proved that the BJA can organise top events with aplomb - the weekend was rated one of the smoothest for some years.

Secondly, it should not be forgotten that Britain plays a leading role in specialist judo media. For the first time, a European Championships sported some of the accoutrements of modern sports presentation, including a big screen with replays of the best techniques.

The official European Judo Union film team is Fighting Films, a British unit which is led by the director, Simon Hicks, who has dragged judo televison into the modern era. Furthermore, the leading specialist judo imprint, Ippon Books, is also UK-based.

All this points to the fact that Britain is now ready to play a more prominent role in international judo - off as well as on the mat.