JUDO: There was a high standard of entry for the Samurai Senior Open with a sea of black belts as the host club took five medals in a tremendous sporting atmosphere.

World veterans champion Joyce Malley dominated the ladies section, winning the gold both in her own second level black belt group and in the open category.

Malley is in the final stages of training for this year's World Championships in Arizona at the end of June.

She visited the Samurai club for some extra training 18 months ago and has stayed there ever since, now representing the club in competitions.

Mat Godfrey made a welcome contest comeback in the men's first level black belts.

Godfrey was giving away a lot of weight but even so he won four contests superbly to end in a three-way tie for the gold medal.

Unfortunately, he lost the fight-off, ending with bronze but he was happy with his first event back and gained plenty of points towards his second level black.

In the second level black belts category, Mark Donnelly found the opposition tough but still managed a bronze medal.

All eyes were on the Samurai's Tuesday senior coach Ian Mills as he stepped on the mat for the fourth level black belt and above category.

Three tremendous wins took him into the semi-final against a much heavier player but Mills made light of a three-stone weight deficit to work his way into the final against a former British international.

Mills lost narrowly on a single low score to finish with silver.

The men's open category was also strongly contested as Mills and Paul Moss progressed well.

Moss made the semi-finals after a series of good wins before losing out to the player who had beaten Mills in the fourth dan final.

His team-mate also made the other semi-final but, during a superb victory against a massive first dan in the quarter-final, he tweaked a leg muscle and had to withdraw.

Mills is also in training for the World Veterans Championships, where he hopes to improve on his bronze medal of two years ago, and it was wisest to play safe.

Meanwhile, Emmy Kimberley was representing the Samurai in Belgium in her first junior international.

Kimberley started well against a Dutch girl, clocking up four medium scores, but unfortunately conceded a single higher score just before the end of the contest to drop out.