2019 National Judo Championships

The Malta Judo Federation organized the National Championships and Dragons festival for 2019. The Dragons festival is organized for the young and aspiring judoka and was held at the Malta Judo Federation National Dojo in Pembroke. 2019 is a special year for the Malta Judo Federation, as it celebrates 50 years since its foundation.

The Malta Resuscitation Council was invited to give a demonstration of ‘Chest compression only’ Basic life support, as well as a demonstration on the use of an AED to the young Judoka on the mat, and their parents watching. This was followed by training in ‘Check Call Compress’ to members from the audience while the festival was on going. Matthew Mintoff and Alex Esposito helped out on this demonstration and training. At the end of the event Dr Tanya Esposito, Vice chair of the MRC presented an Automatic External Defibrillation to the president of the Malta Judo Federation, Mr Envic Galea as a donation from the MRC.

The MRC endeavors to create awareness in the population on the benefits in being able to perform CPR, especially in children. This is especially important during sport and the presence of someone versant in CPR with an AED access and somebody who knows how to do CPR will determine the outcome for that patient. This was the reason for the donation of this AED.

The second day started with the Espoir Category – the twelve to fourteen-year olds. One can easily see the huge improvement in level, since specialised National sessions have been held for this age category, under the supervision of Youth Director Dr Joseph Castillo, coordinated by coach Denis Braidoitti. The new students of the National Sport School, Oscar Newling Ward and Sephora Pawley proved themselves worthy of being students of the school, after they won nearly all their contests. Kris Samuel Bartolo showed superiority in his category as he won all his 4 contests with Ippon, and his last title in this age category, as he moves to

Cadet next year. Other natural talents observed on the day were Trevisan Alexander, Khalef Sadek and Jordanoski Gorjan.

The higher age categories were full of excitement as the level is very competitive. 3 of the Judoka contested the cadet and junior categories, however the result was different.

Zvicer Nikola won both categories however the silver medallists were different: in Cadets it was Jancic Nikola and in Juniors it was Gianluca Mizzi.

In the senior category, the elite Judoka Jeremy Saywell and Isaac Bezzina won their respective categories with ease, as they showed skill, technique and force. Junior Katryna Esposito was uncontested in her 48kgs category, and contested the 52 kgs, which she won convincingly.

Of course, this event would not have been possible without the support of all the volunteers, especially Mr Ivan Esposito, Mrs Alexis Milne and her team, Mrs Angela Castillo and her team, and Mr John Zammit and his team.