During last weekend, the Malta Judo Federation was the host to the Commonwealth Judo Championships It has been 30 years since Malta hosted these Championships.
The Championships opened with the Veteran Championships and the Ne-Waza Championships. Until now, no Maltese had ever competed in a Veteran event. The first contest of the day welcomed Judo coach Joseph Castillo to the mat. Castillo was drawn against Sohail Mukhtar from England and Joe Millar from North Ireland in the -81kgs. Both Judoka were from a younger age category, as Castillo was uncontested. Though he didn’t manage to secure a win, this was a great adrenaline experience for our Judo Coach. The other veteran contestant was 3-time GSSE bronze medallist Ruben Micallef, who made his comeback in the -90kgs. Micallef fought Scott Mayne from North Ireland and William Baker from Jersey. This might be the first step of a new journey for Micallef, who is considering competing at the World and European Veteran Championships.
The afternoon session hosted the first ever Ne-Waza Judo Competition. In this session, the whole contest is done on the ground, without standing up. Veteran Judoka Keith Darmanin contested the -66kgs category. Keith won gold after beating twice the English Edward Semple, in a best out of 3 fights category. This gold medal was a first from many angles: first gold medal for the 2024 Commonwealth Championships for Malta, and first gold medal for a Maltese at a Judo Ne-Waza tournament.
Participants from 9 countries contested these 2 sessions.
Judo is not only a sport, but a way of life, and these veterans showed that Judo is not only a sport for the elite athletes, but there is a version of Judo for everyone!