JUDO: Nine Samurai Judo Club juniors qualified as junior referees after a recent Midland Area course.

Samurai strongly promotes juniors qualifying as referees to increase knowledge of the rules and give an alternative form of study to competition.

Two, Amy Darch and Anthony Todhunter, have been selected as the best Midland juniors to referee at the Brian Roberts Memorial Championships in Northampton next month.

Roberts was the Midlands first junior referees examiner.

He was a member of the Samurai club for 10 years before his death from heart failure at the age of 60 four years ago.