The Malta judo federation organised the 22nd Malta international open at the St Aloysius College Sports Hall recently. With the event becoming stronger and difficult to win, it was a great feat for Marcon Bezzina to win both the -63kgs and the open female event. She is now considered as one of Maltese topmost sportswomen.
The gold medallist of the Andorra Games and the Malta Olympic Committee awards, encountered many strong judokas on her way to the finals. In the final it was inevitable that she would end up against Lisa Bradley from Northern Ireland.
Both Bezzina and Bradley eliminated their opposition with ippon (full points). In the final, Lisa attacked several times but Marcon’s defence was strong. It became obvious that the local girl was superior as Bradley had to start defending heavily.
Bradley, who in 2002 in Manchester only lost to Singleton from Great Britain and took home to North Ireland the silver medal, was in difficulty.
Marcon was determined and pointing her chin out, started a barrage of attacks. Finally Bradley had to succumb to Bezzina’s aggression. An ippon one minute before the final marked the local girls’s victory, to the cheers of the local crowd. It is a pity judo was not in the programme in the recent Melbourne Games as Marcon has been in excellent form. She is now taking part in the EJU world cup Citta Di Roma and the week after she is expected to compete in the Birmingham world cup.
Evgeny Ulanov was the other Maltese to bring honours to Malta when in the -90kg he only lost to Lamberto Raffi (13 years Italian national team member) winning silver.
On Sunday the MJF organised the Malta Open Promotional Tournament for juniors, cadets and espoirs. Several young talent showed that judo has a great future and some names to be mentioned are Aaron Bezzina, Alex Attard, Isac Bezzina, Karl Lewis Cardona Fiott, Cara Bezzina,
“The Federation also took this opportunity to hold a referee’s examination, under the guidance of John Zammit, International Referee, EJU. Several members went through the practical examination of the refereeing course which started this January. Chris Busutill, Dominic Saywell, Neville Schembri, David Sammut, went through a gruelling two days of testing. After evaluation, the results will soon be announced.
Dr Hedi Dhouib, General Secretary of the International Judo federation, was very pleased with the standard of the organisation and level of competition and, together with Mr Bertie Muscat, Mr Karmenu Abela MP and the president of the Federation, Envic Galea, presented the awards to the winners.”
The next activities of the Malta Judo Federation are the following: Grading Camp 5th, 6th, 7th, May, Andrew Bertie Easter Festival 22 April. More information is available from MJF Clubs and the Malta Judo federation: telephone 21319944, e-mail address: [email protected]