Previously based at Blue Tree in Cherng Talay before being forced to leave at the end of last year, lead instructor Alexis Plantard and his legion of dedicated students were awarded the title of Best Judo Club in Thailand 2025 catering for children between the ages of 5 and 12 by the National Judo Federation on Jan 22.
This fantastic achievement meant a hat-trick of titles after the club was awarded the same accolade in both 2023 and 2024.
Such high performance levels were evident at the Thailand National Judo Championships on Jan 18-19 in Bangkok where the team came away with 12 medals.
On day one of the contest gold medals went to Damir, fighting in a very strong field of 15 opponents, Daniil, Lea and Meera, who also secured her green belt classification.
Alex and Max B both performed admirably to win silver medals, the latter in his first competition, while bronze medals were secured by Max, Dima and Micha, the latter of whom was also contesting his first official competition.
Fellow students Iroslav, Andrei, Leo, Marko, Sagit and Philippe represented the Dojo with distinction although they just failed to make the podium, something hard work and dedication in training will no doubt rectify in future.
Day two saw David win silver in of a competitive field of 27 opponents, while Danil won bronze also in a field of 27 opponents and Nailya won bronze in her first competition.
The medal haul was enough for the Phuket team to be ranked as number one in the competition, while Lea won the top fighter award within the girls’ 5-10 year old class.
DOMINATED
A week previous the team were in Singapore where they practically cleaned up, winning a total of nine medals and three trophies, including best team of the tournament.
Lea, Danil and David all won golds, while Domantas and Sagit scored silvers and Daniil, Varlam, Andrei, and Aleksandr all secured bronze.
Dima, Sagit and Aleksandr also won gold in their team event in the children’s division, while David, Domantas and Danil did likewise in the teenager age class and Lea, Varlam and Daniil earned bronze in the youth division.
Particular credit must go to five-year-old Lea who competed in the boys class up to seven years of age and completely dominated all her opponents, listening well to coach Alexis’ instructions and carrying them out perfectly. Along with her teammates, she represented Phuket in style and was duely rewarded with the top overall team award.
There is much more ahead this year for the team and expectations are high. At time of press, discussions with a new venue are at an advanced stage, meaning the team will once again have a permanent place to train and call home.
Once they are settled again and back to dedicated training, expect the medals, trophies and accolades to flood in once again as they continue their impressive drive to become recognised as the outright leading Dojo in Southeast Asia.
For more information or to contribute towards helping build the new Dojo school please visit the Dojo Phuket website at: https://judophuket.com/.