Isle of Man Judo’s Sean Askin and Chris Horton were the Manx entries into the British Masters Judo Championships at the UEL Sports Dock Arena in London recently.

Competing for the first time at this level since the Gibraltar Island Games in 2019, Askin competed in his first category of M1 (age 30-34) u90kg and dominated the pool, seeing off his first opponent within 10 seconds with a trademark seoi-nage shoulder throw.

Stronger contests would follow against higher-ranked black belt opponents, but Askin proved adept with both his repertoire of throws and groundwork techniques to defeat the two favourites and claim the gold medal.

Askin would later compete in the lower-ranked Kyu grade category, which took place towards the end of the day.

After such a long wait, fatigue was evident but he saw off everyone in his pool until he faced his final opponent from Bradford Judo Club, who had also claimed a 100 percent record in a short space of time.

As Askin went for his trademark seoi-nage, he found himself countered and, after a video replay, the winning ippon score was given to the Bradford man with Askin securing silver.

In between Askin’s fights, seasoned veteran Horton was up in the M3 (age 40-44) u100kg category.

With defending British and Commonwealth Masters champion Nick Hawke not entering, this was an open event with two pools splitting the entrants and only the top two qualifying for the semi-finals.

First out in his pool, Horton had a tough initial contest and found himself beaten after four minutes out on the mat. Knowing he would need to win his next two contests to qualify out of the pool, he regained his composure and two strong yoko-guruma sacrifice techniques saw him gain the required victories to reach the semi-finals.

An even match against his London-based opponent in the semi-final saw Horton think he had made the final with seconds remaining of normal time, but the referee determined this took place after the buzzer and so the contest went to golden score, where next score wins.

On the offensive, Horton found himself countered for a score against him and ultimately had to settle for bronze.

With podium places giving athletes the opportunity to be selected for Great Britain international events, Askin now joins Horton on the GB Masters squad for 2024.

Both judoka were coached matside by assistant coach Errol Savage, who remarked: ‘It was a long day of competition, but well worth it. For our island to have two athletes in the Masters squad is excellent, and as their coach I am proud of their performances and dedication to their training programme leading up to this batch of competitions.’

The competitions continue thick and fast for both Manx athletes as they travelled to Ireland the weekend just gone to compete at the Irish Open in Dublin – report to follow.

Horton then completes his busy sporting year with a trip to Abu Dhabi to represent Team GB at the World Veterans Championships in November.