Watson roasts top Aussies
Heavyweight shrugs off jetlag and sudden switch in temperatures to land double gold
Whanganui heavyweight judoka Keightley Watson beat jet lag, heat extremes and the top three ranked senior Australian heavyweights at the ACT Judo International Open in Canberra at the weekend.
Watson took out both the junior men’s plus 100kg and senior men’s plus 100kg titles in Canberra after flying in on Thursday to Sydney from the Netherlands and then on to Canberra. He had come from just 3C in the Netherlands to find 30C in Australia.
After six weeks of training and competition on the other side of the world, then a drive through to Canberra, jet lag was not an issue for the Whanganui judoka.
“There were good numbers in both the junior men’s and especially the senior men’s divisions with the top four ranked Australian heavyweights all competing, including the 2018 Oceania senior men’s plus-100kg gold medallist and the 2018 Oceania Open senior plus-100kg gold medallist,” father Ross Watson said.
The Whanganui teenager cast aside these fighters on his run to taking the gold medal in Canberra.
“There were some experienced fighters in the senior men’s division with a couple of very seasoned current international competitors both with higher world rankings than Keightley, so it was a good day at the office for him,” Ross Watson said.
“It will make up a bit for him missing competing at the Belgium senior open tournament last month after gaining a slight tear to a triceps after winning the bronze at the 2019 Espoir Dutch open in January.
“Keightley now moves on to Sydney for this coming weekend’s Sydney International Open where again he will be competing in both junior men’s and senior men’s plus-100kg grade before flying back to Whanganui.”