The first spring tournaments of our judokas got under way, and on March 23 our four competitors took to the mat at the Grand Prix in Mariánské Lázně: Matyáš Kobsa, who fought his way to 1st place, Max Kleiner, who finished in a fine 2nd place, and Václav Kule and Milan Čmolík, who did not fight their way into the medal positions.
The next big tournament was the Grand Prix of the Town of Sušice on April 6; here M. Kobsa and Barbora Šmůlová took 2nd place, while V. Kule and Jan Vesecký delivered excellent performances, but the competition was tough and so they did not reach the medals.
All the judokas are training and preparing for further competitions — such as M. Kobsa, who has an international tournament ahead of him in Erfurt, Germany, and the major Czech Cup tournament in Jablonec nad Nisou. Both tournaments are very tough, because Matyáš will face the national teams of European states at them. That is why our best club competitor, Filip Hančík, has also joined Matyáš’s preparation, gradually passing on his experience to the younger judokas — a welcome help for coach Karel Fojtík.
Radek Hančík
