AN invitation judo tournament held at Bridgwater in Somerset saw unprecedented entries for an area event — with more than 200 competitors taking part. Okehampton Juniors, 10 to 16 year olds, were certainly up against it and all showed real grit and determination in their contests. Levi Dove, aged 10, in his first competition was really in the deep end and competing against much older opposition. He was also only just into his weight group but he skilfully utilised his judo techniques to escape some tough hold downs. Eric Van Riel, 12, also competed for the first time and certainly did the club proud. Ella Percival won silver in her first competition as a junior. Her determination fighting spirit and non-stop attacking style paid off against some tough opposition, only losing to a national competitor by a low score. Aidan Bostock, aged 12 and light for his group, won a comfortable gold with a confident performance winning all his contests in style, utilising a variety of techniques effectively controlling and surprising his opponents with multi-direction attacks in the under 55kg category. He also took part recently in the Junior Nationals Hereford, where despite being the youngest in his his group and weighing only 52kgs he showed real grit and determination to come fifth out of 15.