Taylorian 2020

104 I t is a pleasure to see the club flourishing with an influx of new and talented boys (Seraj Ali, Rafael Edgerton, Daniel Jory, Kieran Kenny, Charlie Nicholson, Aran Sasitharan, Anmol Singh, and Max Yip) and also a new member of staff, Mr Prashar. A warm welcome to everyone. At MTS, Judo training sessions are held twice a week. I am really impressed by the boys’ continued spirit and eagerness to develop their personal well-being, physical strength and technical ability, guided in all by our professional coach, John Jones. In preparation for the HMC Independent School Boys Judo Tournament, the climax of the Judo calendar, we had arranged two extra training sessions earlier this year with our partner schools, St Paul’s and Harrow School, both of which have very strong judo squads. Despite losing most overall rounds, some boys managed to win individual matches, and, more importantly, all gained experience in fighting against unknown opponents in unfamiliar circumstances. The actual tournament in High Wycombe turned out better than expected against such experienced teams as Harrow School, St Paul’s, and Winchester College. All the hard work paid off: in true Taylorian spirit, we returned with seven bronze medals and one silver! Shams Ghaffar gained the best individual result with a silver medal while Imran Zamin Ali, Aman Khawaja, and Jaiveer Singh all won bronze in the senior category. At the intermediate level, Harry Shannon and Amir Nazir achieved bronze medals. Our novice, Seraj Ali, finished with a bronze award after a spectacular throw in his debut fight. MTS Judo is planning to build on this success with exciting new events for the upcoming academic year: training with Harrow School at the Boudakwai (the oldest Japanese martial arts club in Europe), a regular Friday lunchtime club, and participating in fixtures and competitions organised by the British Judo Association. The club bids a fond farewell to our captain, Tom Shannon, and vice-captain, Imran Ali. Both boys have been relentless in supporting MTS Judo over the past years and have been fantastic role models for the younger members. We shall miss them dearly. Dr M Löhr Sport Sport Judo