Two recent IJF World Circuit results have further strengthened Lisa Kearney's bid for 2012 Olympic qualification.

Following the World Cup Bronze in Kazakhstan, Lisa represented Ireland at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.  A credible performance produced a 5th place finish that included a notable win over 2011 Grand Slam & Grand Prix medalist Elena Moretti of Italy.  Moretti, who recently also won the Rome World Cup, sits two places above Kearney in the Olympic Ranking list so there was more than a quarter final place at stake when they met in Abu Dhabi.  A Golden Score win for Ireland set up a medal fight with tournament favourite and eventual Gold medalist, Yamagishi of Japan.  Lisa competed well with Yamagishi but got caught chasing the contest with 4 seconds remaining.

A last minute decision to participate in the Apia World Cup proved to be a prudent move as Lisa went on to win a Silver medal in Samoa last weekend.A very small but very strong entry made the long journey to the south pacific. 5 of the field have won 8 World Cup Gold medals in 2011 alone.A very important semi final win against European Medalist Ana Hormingo (POR) was the highlight of the event for Kearney and set up a final contest with Paula Pareto of Argentina.  The Olympic medalist scored Yuko in the first 30 seconds and Lisa struggled to get near her for the rest of the match.  Nevertheless a 5th, Bronze and Silver in consecutive IJF events reflects the good form Lisa is currently showing. 

She will take that good form into the remaining IJF events in 2011, the Amsterdam Grand Prix, Tokyo Grand Slam & Qingdao Grand Prix.

Retirement Tribute To Harry McGuigan 6th Dan

I first met Harry McGuigan in early 2002 when he had just taken over as manager of the Irish Masters Squad, just in time to compete in Derry in June of that year. The World Masters Judo was gathering momentum and Willie Lyons and Jack Dennis had both suggested I should take part. They both characteristically said “ah you know Harry” but in fact I didn’t as I was just a social judoka up to that point.

After a week of cheering on the impressive Irish performances in Derry, Harry was delighted to take Bronze in his own category. He told me at the medal ceremony that he hadn’t competed since 1984 and had had no idea how he would fare. The following year the Master Athlete event was hosted in the Kodokan in Tokyo and the Irish Master Squad moved up a gear to attend this once-in-a-lifetime event. Harry and Willie organised fund-raising nights and Harry hosted Master Squad sessions on a regular basis. In Harry’s own words to me these were as much bonding exercises as training sessions and I found out over later events that the Irish Master Squad were the envy of some other Nations because of the way we trained, travelled and indeed wined and dined together on a National level.

In those Golden pre-recession days Harry was also able to organise some modest funding from the Irish Judo Association. After Japan, Harry guided the Squad as far afield as Austria, Brazil, Canada for further World Masters glories including his personal best of Silver (2007), more Bronzes (2005 and 2008), and fifth places (2003 & 2004). Although Harry and I missed the very start of the Movement, we were in Hungary in 2003 for the very first EJU organised event where on the first day he took Gold. Subsequent World and European events have suggested to me that the European Event is equally if not more challenging than the World events but Harry proved this was no fluke by taking Silver in 2006.

As more Nations began to host Masters’ events or at least introduce the category into regular events, Harry was also able to take Gold in the Irish Open (2002),USA Masters (2003), Austrian (2005) and Hungarian Masters, as well as medals in Belgium, France and Britain. His fighting records speak for themselves but I also have fond memories of Harry organising flights, accommodation and competition entries and constantly e-mailing or texting the Master Squad Members to keep them informed and motivated,using both his native Irish and his entertaining English to keep us involved.

He also inspired by suffering through a number of serious injuries which hampered his training but not his competing and was known to consider a number of retirements to appease his family’s concerns before the call of the mat became too strong to resist. Willie Lyons even organised a presentation which proved to be premature! Early in the year Harry indicated to me that he was considering retirement (only from this aspect of his vast judo career) and finally in September 2011 he confirmed that, due to injury and new family commitments, he was standing down from the Master Squad.

Too often in life we only honour those that have passed away and I am delighted to have this opportunity to thank and honour Harry for his contribution to Irish Masters’ Judo. As he reminded me both verbally and by his presence at recent Dan Gradings and the Leinster Open he is very much still active in all his other judo commitments. His contribution to Irish Judo will outlive us all!

for more photos...look here

Donal Tannam
Master Squad Member since 2002

******Calendar of Events 2012*******

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