Judo

Victoria travelled to Auckland, with not a little apprehension. The teams entered in the restricted Kyu and the open events were relatively inexperienced, with some members having the minimum of judo experience.

In view of this all performed well and the tough competition afforded by higher graded and more experienced teams was well met by the Victoria fighters. Dave Mitchell and Peter Cleghorn in the restricted Kyu both performed well against skilled competitors who had obviously had the benefit of experience.

In the open, which was won by Canterbury. Victoria fielded yellow belts against brown belts and did surprisingly well. Although Victoria was at a disadvantage in this respect the experience gained was worth the discomfort.

Mention should be made of Dave Felkart a recently graded yellow belt with six months' judo experience behind him, who extended the previous NZU champion Murray Mathewson (a brown belt) to a draw in the open event. In the individual events he went on to beat another brown belt who later in the evening was to come second in the NZU championships.

These wins speak well for the coach and mainstay of the Victoria Judo Club, Peter Hannah, whose efforts now will be the foundation of a strong club in the future.