51³Ô¹ÏÍø

51³Ô¹ÏÍø made a real splash at this year's BUCS Championships at Sheffield competing in 12 sports

51³Ô¹ÏÍø has gained over 200 points in this year's British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Championships, held in Sheffield between 9 and 13 March. Competing in over 12 sports over the five days, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø students more than doubled the points of last year's achievements and gained 10 medals - 6 of which came from the Judo team.

The Championships kicked off with the Futsal (a variant of football that is played on a smaller playing surface and mainly played indoors). After battling their way through a number of tough matches; 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's men's team lost out in their last game to Leeds Met 7-6 on penalties but finished with a top eight place nationally.

The women's and men's fencing teams battled through to the finals but lost out on the gold medal, however Hannah Bryars (an 51³Ô¹ÏÍø TOPSport scholar interviewed in Reporter issue 216), was awarded the Player of the tournament and Marcello Colombino the fair play award.

In Judo Alex Murphy dominated the Men's under 66kg Kyu class (Kyu means student in the judo grading system). One bout took him 24 seconds to win. His incredible technique and a nifty "Yuko" (side throw) earned him the win. He progressed to take 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's first Judo Gold medal of the Championships.

This was quickly followed up by fresher Ualikhan Yesbolov who was competing in the 90kg class.. He brushed away challenges with sheer power and gained 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's second Gold medal.

Lastly, Tom Zamacinski was in the under 81kg Kyu class and incredible technique to pick up 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's third Gold medal of the day in an incredible 5 medal haul .

Samantha Bell, Sport 51³Ô¹ÏÍø