On Saturday the 12 th March, the Norfolk Sombo Association , had a team of students entered in the British Open Sombo Championships, which was held in Sittingbourne. Attending this competition were established Sombo wrestling clubs from Bournemouth, Eastbourne, Essex and competitors coming from as far a field as the USA, France, Germany, Iran and the Cameroon. This was the clubs third entry in this style of competition. All the students had a successful trip bringing back a collection of medals with two students winning their weight group competitions, thus becoming the British Championships for 2005.
The following medals were won by our competitors :-
Girls Group B - Martine Clark - Gold & British Champion 2005
Girls Group C - Samantha Clayton - Silver
Girls Group C - Wendy Simnett - Bronze
Boys Group B - Spencer Webster - Gold & British Champion 2005
Boys Group B - Chris Gath - Silver
Boys Group C - Wayne Sharmon - Silver
Boys Group C - Sam Lawson - Bronze
Seniors Group - Luke Brown - Bronze
Veterans Group -
Light Heavyweight Graham Mann - Bronze
In her group Martine beat four very good experienced competitors including a very tricky young lady from Germany.
Spencer in gaining his gold medal had to fight against one of his own club members, Chris, which made for an interesting group match which Spencer narrowly won., with Chris getting the Silver medal.
A special mention should also go to the other team members who all put up very good performances with special mentions to Luke Brown, Ben Lawson, and entering their first competitions Rhett Milton and Gary Webster.
The Competition was hosted by the British Sombo Federation club based in Sittingbourne, who's senior coach Martin Clarke said that he was very impressed by the way all
the Norfolk youngsters competed and fought for every point and was very pleased to have the Norfolk Sombo Association team at this event.
The Competition was also attended by the National Sombo Coach, Mr. Tim Thomas, who said he was very pleased to see the Norfolk competitors taking part in a national competition and the high standard which was shown by all the students, against some very good opposition.
The clubs head coach Graham Mann, would like to congratulate all who took part in this competition, especially the two new British Champions, who have shown that if you work hard you can achieve excellent results.
The team would also like to thank Colin Sharmon & Gary Webster for driving the Mini-Bus to and from Sittingbourne, and getting us all home safely, and the others in the group who travelled down to cheer and support our students and help them to achieve these fantastic results.
