Lead instructor Alexis Plantard and his band of impressive students won 25 gold medals, 14 silver and 16 bronze, as well as five awrds for disctinction across different fighting classes.
The tournament was held in Pathum Thani on Apr 4-6 with 84 individual clubs participating across the Jiu-Jitsu fighting styles of Tachi Waza, Ne-Waza and No-Gi.
Day one incorporated the Tachi Waza class and the Dojo Phuket team were in fine form as David, Max, Sagit, Aleksandr, Mayel, Damir and Alexis claimed golds, Daniil, Dima, Philippa, Ashia and Naylia won silver, while Léa, Meera and Johnathan secured bronze.
Their collective performance was enough to secure top ranking in the Tachi Waza classification out of 35 clubs from Thailand competing at the event.
While all the students performed admirably, Alexis was keen to highlight the achievement of five-year-old Léa who fought an opponent six years older than her and demonstrated incredible bravery, only having to concede the contest due to an injury.
Alexis also praised Ashia for her fearless performance in only her first ever contest, while tipping Sagit and Damir to secure their green and blue belt classifications very soon.
The medals continued to flood in on day two during the Ne-Waza and No-Gi classifications where the team ended up being ranked number one out of the 71 teams competing.
Juthika, Alex and Tatiana won three gold medals each, Max won two gold, Philippa and Alexis won two gold and one silver each, while Léa won two gold, one silver and one bronze and Sacha won one gold and one bronze.
Ashia won three silver medals, David and Johnathan won one silver and two bronze each, Daniil won one silver and a bronze, Naylia won one silver, with bronze medals going to Mayel, Damir, Dima, Leo, Philippe, Meera (2) and Sagit (2).
The team’s performance meant they were ultimately ranked second out of 84 teams across all age, gender and discipline and were only pipped into top spot by the Thai national No-Gi team who managed to secure two more gold medals overall.
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
More accolades came at the Malaysia Judo International Open in Penang on the weekend of Apr 12-13 where Dojo Phuket was ranked as best overall overseas team.
Over 700 athletes participated with tough international competition from dojos based in Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as the Singapore and Myanmar national teams.
Dojo Phuket had 19 athletes competing and all were in fine form as they performed brilliantly once again to win 19 medals overall, including six gold, four silver and nine bronze.
Gold medals went to Léa, Leo, Damir, Mikhail, Max and Alexis, while Daniil, Sagit, Sacha and Andrei claimed silver and David W, Philippa, Philippe, Dima, David (2), Mayel (2) and Naylia all won bronze.
While acknowledging the impressive team performance as a whole, Alexis had particular praise for Mikhail who won his first gold medal at competition level, similarly Philippa and Philippe who both won their first medal at international level. The coach also commended Damir, explaining the young student is the most mature he has seen at his age, possessing a fine understanding of strategy and for whom the sky is the limit.
The success in Penang meant Dojo Phuket have won best team at competitions in Malaysia, Singapore, China and Thailand this year already.
Most recently the Dojo Phuket team were in action in Kathmandu at the Nepal International Judo Championships last Sunday (Apr 20).
The team of eight athletes won five medals overall, with David picking up a gold, Léa a silver and bronze for Naylia, Max and Sagit.
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