Dominant Anantapur lifts the State Sub-Junior Judo Championship 2015

Judo has picked up the pace in Anantapur and the Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA) has been in the thick of the action, ASA inaugurated the Judo Federation of India (JFI) training centre early June, this year and began training 25 girls and boys for excellence in judo. After this the ASA Judo Academy has been very busy, hosting two competitions on the go, with the Sub Junior, district championship and then State championship that was held between 10th & 12th July 2015 in a span of about 20 days.

Action from the final day of the State Championship

The championship saw total of 260 Judokas from over 11 districts of Andhra Pradesh. The host district, Anantapur fielded a well-trained team of 12 girls and 12 boys to participate in this state level championship. The Sub- Junior team trained hard, along with the Junior and Senior athletes from the ASA throughout this period towards this state level tournament.

These judokas from Anantapur have been through a 10day Judo training camp with a Japanese coach just before the launch of the JFI Training Centre. They later began training daily under ASA’s Judo coach Reddappa Reddy, before the District level Judo Championship earlier after which a select few stayed back and trained here during an 11-day training camp towards the State Sub-Junior Judo Championship.

This training only intensified and increased from two a day to three a day, with a highly thought out and well-planned schedule. As such these Judokas have only ‘Practiced to make Perfect’ as highlighted by Reddappa Reddy who has been constantly focusing on strengthening their basic skills.

Training preceding the State Championship

This ideology has only paid off, in the best interest of the Judokas of ASA, Anantapur and the Anantapur Judo Association. The results clearly showing this, with Anantapur steamrolling through the competition with almost all their judokas stepping on the podium, to record a medal tally of 11 Gold and 1 Bronze in the girls’ competition while 9 Gold and 2 silvers in the boys’ competition to assert their dominance in the competition, of these winners 3 boys and 7 girls were from the ASA, all of them winning Gold for a 100% win ratio from the ASA athletes, showcasing their true metal, in the competition.

Among the winners representing Anantapur, were two judokas, who showcased a different side altogether, starting off as underdogs, Uday Kumar from Keshav Reddy English High School and tiny, yet supple Gangotri from Sharada High School during the district championship earlier, proved that they were not fluke winners or pushovers.

They surprised their coach and K N Babu, Secretary of the District Judo Association who closely oversees the trainings and development of the athletes. Babu commented saying “These two have barely started and are performing way above the expectations that we would have from them”.

All smiles after their dominating show

The overall championships for both boys and girls sat comfortably in the excited hands of the Anantapur Judokas with Chittoor and Kurnool in the boys competition and Kadapa and Chittoor in the girls competition taking second and third places respectively for the Championship.

Anantapur now has set its eyes on the National Sub-Junior Judo Championship to be held in Vijayawada from 3rd to 7th September 2015 as 20 of its athletes along with 2 from Kadapa, 1 from Kurnool and East Godavari districts each to represent the state of Andhra Pradesh at the National Championships.

Edited by Staff Editor