It was a fantastic weekend of results for Caldicot Judo Club who were represented by eight players at the Welsh National Judo Championships in Cardiff - returning with six medals including four gold.

The tournament attracts the best junior and senior players in the Principality, and the stakes were even higher this year as many players were competing for selection to the Commonwealth Judo Tournament in Londonderry in June.

In the Junior event both Matthew Damsell and Chris Sage took gold in their respective weight groups. Fighting in the under 50kg category Matthew won through to the final by winning all of his fights by maximum score. The final was well contested against a regular opponent, but Damsell quickly got the better of him and maintained a 100% record by winning by ippon. Fighting in the under 60kg class, Chris Sage made slightly harder work of his progress by losing his second fight, which gave him a mountain to climb in order to achieve gold. But Chris produced some excellent judo to win his next couple of fights and was then pitched in the final against the same opponent that had beaten him earlier. Sage was not about to let a gold slip away at that stage and made sure of the victory second time around. Fighting in her first Welsh Championship Danielle Eynon fought valiantly in the girls under 57kg category but was beaten in the early rounds by the eventual gold medallist.

In the senior event Caldicots ladies took the major honours with Lisa Buffin and Nicky Moores taking gold in their respective classes. Buffin, fighting in the under 52kg section had a straightforward run for gold whilst Moores in the under 63kg group took four straight ippon wins for her top slot.

The men's best result was from Roger Sainsbury in the over 100kg section who won three fights by ippon only to be beaten in his final contest to take a well deserved silver. Nathan Pugh, one of the club coaches, had a mixed set of results but fought well in his last contest to take a bronze medal.

Damsell and Sage have been selected to represent Wales this weekend in Edinburgh at the Celtic Cup team event, and several of the Caldicot winners are now waiting to hear whether they have been selected to fight for Wales at the Commonwealth Judo Tournament in June.