JUDO: Samurai Judo Club took 23 players to the Midlands Open Championships and returned with the same number of medals.

Veteran Alex Cooper led the charge with three medals, including a gold in the brown belts' open.

The girls' lightweights started off in good style with Emily Watson in superb form at the lowest weight category.

Watson's first three contests lasted a total of only half-a-minute as she threw players in all directions.

She ended up with a good silver medal after losing the final to a Nottingham girl, beating club-mate Amber Gaughan on her way in the semis.

Gaughan had put together excellent maximum-point wins and fought back well to take bronze.

The more experienced Amy Oertel earned gold medal in the next weight category with four strong wins.

In the middleweights, Emma Butler looked a good bet for a gold after reaching the final with three good victories but she slipped up in the final against a Lincoln girl.

Samurai dominated the heavyweights with Rachel Wilkinson and Katherine Lloyd-Jones taking bronzes.

Lauren Underhill made no mistake with four maximum-point successes earning her gold.

The boys started well with Jack Roberts taking bronze after losing his semi to a good London player and Steven Wagstaff being selected for the spirit of judo award.

Daniel Spivey and Charles Woodward were both unlucky to finish fifth after pleasing performances.

Simon Cooper, a newcomer in January who has a bright future, won three contests in style for a bronze.

In the same weight group, David Hadley went a stage further with four maximum-point wins taking him into the final and an eventual silver.

Two more excellent prospects, Matthew Lowe and Ryan Pitcock, faced each other in the semi-finals in the next weight group up.

In an excellent encounter, Pitcock's extra training paid off as he went through to the final only for a single mistake to cost him the contest. But he still claimed silver, while Lowe picked himself up well for a bronze.

In the higher grade lightweights, Alex Dowling and Wesley Connor took silver and bronze respectively, only losing to a superb player from Ipswich.

Karl Gaughan edged a silver in the middleweights and Pitcock tried his hand in the higher grades and was rewarded with a bronze.

For once, Samurai were short of senior players competing and they fielded three of their juniors in the ladies.

In the lightweights, Kerrie Pitcock and Aimee Hodson fought with skill and courage for a silver and bronze.

Hodson equalled the record set by Amy Darch two years ago for the youngest Samurai player to win a medal at senior level.

In the middleweights, the more experienced Ellen Ingram threw several good maximum-point scores on her way to the bronze.

In the senior men, Dave Watson made his comeback with good judo and earned a bronze.

A Cooper entered three categories and took a medal in all with his best display the brown belts' open gold.

He took bronze in the veterans against second and third-level black belts plus a similar medal in the brown belt-and-below section against much younger players.