Young fighters continue their medal gold Rush in Europe while Tom wins achievement award

Following on from a successful fortnight of competitions on the domestic front recently, Rush Judo's young fighters travelled to Belgium over the weekend and continued to enjoy medal success.

A squad of 19 judoka returned to the UK with a magnificent haul of 19 medals.

It has been a busy few weeks for the youngsters who have achieved fantastic results and this weekend’s results certainly underlined their commitment and talent.

Gold: Jessica Rush, Alec Holian, Ethan Shaw, Matthew Morley, Kodi O’Connell Rayner, Nicole Wood, Ollie O’Connell and Harrison O’Connell Rayner.

Silver: Ben Hasler , Jordan Hayes and Kieran Docherty.

Bronze: Leo Rumsby Ferris, Daniel Rush, Jim Collins, Rebekah Bryant Moore, Travis Hayes, Tegwin Jenkins, Sophie Rush and Nia Jenkins.

Coaches Laurie Rush and Pete Brent were delighted with the medal haul, saying: “There was some great judo on show and some gutsy performances.”

Back in England, junior Tom Lish attended the Audentior Civic Awards ceremony in Watford on Friday where Mayor Dorothy Thornhill presented him with the trophy for the Individual Sporting Achievement Award.

Tom won gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas in July – a fantastic end to a season where he went unbeaten in his weight class. Tom was ecstatic to win and said: “I owe my success to coach Laurie Rush who, from the very beginning, when there wasn’t a medal in sight, encouraged me to step-up, to fight for recognition and take on the very, very best.”