Wessex yet again travelled to the Swedish Open in searc of medals, and we were not dissapointed. Taking a small team of 4 players to compete in Trelleborg for the Swedish Open, Wessex were confronted with snow a foot deep and the girls just couldn't help but start a snowball fight and make a snowman!! Once we got to the Arena however the serious work started, first up was Lottie and after about a 5 hour wait was not fully warmed up but still managed to beat her opponent 5-1, next up was Christy competing in her first 'A' Class tournament, unfortunately she came up against the eventual gold medalist but still only got beaten 4-0 so not bad on her first attempt. Lottie came up again and this time felt fully warmed up and boy did her opponent feel the fire as Lottie hit her 5 time in the head before her coach decided to throw in the towell, lottie winning 19-1. Melissa was up next and eager to improve on her performance at the British Championships, she did not dissappoint and beat her opponent 7-4, next Chelsea came onto the ring and after a slowish start the girl punched her in the back of the head and then wished she hadn't. Chelsea was like a woman posessed and was really impressive with everything going superbly, finishing the girl off with Chelsea's first ever head shot a chop kick straight to the face, WELL DONE!!! Lottie came up next and the girl must have been at least 4 inches taller than Lottie but after taking a kick to the face Lottie made a good job of avoiding the remaining kicks beating the girl 6-3 although Lottie did take a big knock to the knee in the process, she was now after the gold medal. Mel was next in her semi-final and again made a good job with the score mirroring the first with Mel winning 7-4. Chelsea then came to her semi-final and I was looking foward to a good performance but unfortunately Chelsea got it into her head that the girl was better than her and refused to follow up on her fantastic performance in the previous round, in so losing 6-3. Mel then took on a very good player in the final and unfortunately went down with an immediate head shot, she replied with a good body shot but again the opponent hit Mel this time with a turning kick to the head after acknowleding that the kick was indeed a good shot proceeded to take the game to her opponent bringing the score back to 8-7 but Mel just couldn't quite manage to get that last point, unlucky Mel. The last fight came to Lottie and she went into the fight with a badly bruised knee and was finding it difficult to move properly. She managed to last round 1 with the score even at 4-4, but during the round Lottie hit the knee again and was fighting to stay on her feet, I threatened to throw in the towell twice during the first round but Lottie was determined to try and carry on. At the beginning of round 2 the opponent realising Lotties predicament came in very strong again knocking Lottie down to the floor and I decided that the chance of sustaining some serious damage to the knee was to great and threw in the towell. Lottie was devastated but her opponents coach came over and said that he couldn't believe how much fighting spirit Lottie had shown, a great compliment from the Dutch National Team Coach. All in all a good competition and some bad luck but each player should take a lot away from the experience. |