The second day of the Oceania Judo Championships being held in Suva, the capital of Fiji, has demonstrated just how far ahead of the rest of the continent the Australians are. In five of the six light weights contested Australian athletes fought their way into every final spot. It was only in the two Open weight categories that fighters from Fiji have been able to shake the total dominance of Australia. Fiji have some strong heavyweights but their lightweights are far weaker and the other Islands represented here are struggling to find any athletes capable of winning a couple of contests at this level. The team from the Solomon Islands are participating in their first continental Championships for 20 years and their young team are still looking for their first individual contest victory. That they are even here is remarkable given the current political instability in their country.

The women's -48 kg was the sixth of the light weight categories and only had an entry of three, two Fijians and an Australian, Julia Serrano, who beat both of them with relative ease. First she threw Diana Vakatovolea with Osoto gari for ippon and then she took Mereani Naioba, who had also beaten Vakatovolea, to the ground with a yuko scoring Yoko sutemi waza. Here she clamped on a mune gatame from which Naioba managed to escape but left her arm exposed. Serrano slammed on a Juji gatame and Naioba twisted and turned eventually submitting out of sight of the referee and judges.  It appeared that she had escaped, however she had damaged her arm in the process, and admitted the submission, so the ippon was awarded to Serrano. First gold to Australia.

The men's -60 kg saw another Serrano in action, Julia's brother Frances. He efficiently dealt with Ofa Taiala of Tonga, throwing him for ippon with Harai goshi, and followed this by throwing New Zealand's Phillip Payne in similar fashion. In the semi-final he faced team mate Steven Guidice and countered his running leg grab nicely for ippon to earn his place in the final. Here he came up against fellow Australian Scott Fernandis who had thrown Fiji's Tevita Raibevu with a superb dropping Sode tsuri komi goshi in the first seconds of their contest. However he was fortunate to make it to the final after he was thrown with a lightning fast counter by Numa Keneke of Papua New Guinea in the semi final. Most spectators felt it was worth ippon but Fernandis escaped with waza-ari against him and responded superbly, throwing Keneke for ippon with his left drop Sode tsuri komi goshi. Keneke went on to take the bronze throwing New Zealand's Phillip Payne for ippon with right Harai goshi and bringing Papua New Guinea their first Oceania medal for many years. Guidice took the other bronze with a right drop seoinage ippon against Raibevu. Serrano fought an intelligent final against Fernandis throwing him with a perfectly timed Okuri ashi harai. With great agility Fernandis twisted out and kept the score down to yuko, but that was sufficient to give Serrano the title and the sibling double!

In the -52 kg for women the Australians swiftly eliminated the Fijians and battled it out against each other in the semi-finals. Emily Bensted sweetly threw Chelisa Chester with left drop seoinage for one final place and  Sony Chervonsky, whilst looking the strongest fighter in the category  threw away a massive lead of a waza-ari and three yuko's against Kellie Fong. She attempted a suicidal yoko sutemi waza and practically threw herself into the hold that Fong gratefully clamped on to claim her final spot. The result of the final was debatable to say the least. Bensted attempted to throw with a drop seoinage which seemed to be countered strongly by Fong with Uranage but to Fong's disbelief the ippon was awarded to Bensted, who can count herself extremely lucky to be Oceania champion.

Two of the most stylish Australians were in action in the men's -66 kg category. Joshua Cook has a wide range of classical techniques and put them to good use throwing Lawrence Ramos of Papua New Guinea for yuko with a classic Tai otoshi and for ippon with Uchi mata. In the semi-final he disposed of team mate Waylon Solomon with a beautiful right handed standing Ippon seoinage. on the other side of the draw Heath Young looked equally strong with his highly effective Laats style Kata guruma with which he disposed of Tonga's Heimul Faka'osi. In the semi final he threw fellow Australian Ben Donegan with Makikomi for waza-ari and followed through into Yoko shiho gatame for the other waza-ari. Donegan went on to claim bronze in style throwing Fiji's Pelasio Rageci for ippon with Uchi mata. The other bronze was taken by Fiji's Atunaisa Delai who threw Solomon with a truly massive Ushiro Goshi almost sending him through the mat! 

Heath Young  came out for his final in a hugely, almost over, confident manner and produced a stunning standing Kata guruma in the first minute that would have scored ippon had he taken it all the way to the mat. As it was he dropped Cook and allowed him to reduce the score to waza-ari and fight on.  Young then had to work much harder for his victory which he secured with a drop down Kata guruma for a second, far less spectacular waza-ari.

Oceania's only Olympic medallist was in action in the women's -57 kg category. Australia's Maria Pekli was never troubled as she blasted through the category with her trademark Sode tsuri komi goshi. Her first fight against Fiji's Sofaia Tagilala only lasted five seconds. Papua New Guinea's Marie Keneke lasted a little longer, thrown for  koka, then ippon, whilst team mate Carli Lewis survived being thrown in the final only to be armlocked with Juji gatame. Lewis had performed well until then, armlocking Kelly Rush from New Zealand and throwing fellow Australian Sharon Taylor for ippon with Kouchi makikomi, but she is simply not in the same class as Pekli whose years on the European circuit have built her competitive skills and killer instinct. How long she has left is unsure, but for now she remains Australia's only realistic hope of a World or Olympic place.

With thirteen fighters from six countries the men's -73 kg was a hotly contested category, but still ended up as another all Australia final between Andrew Collett and Dennis Iverson. Collett had beaten Waterhouse of Samoa with a couple of yukos and Ajapei Latu from Tonga with a speedy leg grab Sutemi waza combination for ippon. Iverson  had wasted no time strangling Walsa Waqanisau of Fiji and throwing team mate Ozcan Ozcan for ippon with a drop Sode tsuri komi goshi. But the final was a disappointment, Collett only lasting a minute without score before he had to withdraw with a damaged ankle. However the -73 kg category produced one major surprise, Tonga's first ever medal in the Oceania Championships which was won in fine style by Akapel  Latu putting out the Australian Hayden Molnar with a big waza-ari counter and throwing the strong Samoan Frank Stowers for ippon with left Harai Goshi. Let us hope that his success will be a big boost for Judo in Tonga.

The Open weight categories at the Oceania Championships are genuine open  competitions, unlike European and World events where they are a rerun of the super heavyweights with some competitors only fighting in the Open.  Here a wide range of weights fight and virtually all of them have already competed. In the women's event the Fijian -70 kg fighter Sisilia Naisiga showed once again that she is the strongest female competitor in Oceania by taking the title with an  ippon in each of her fights. In the final she defeated Australia's Jessica Malone, bronze medallist in the +78 kg, throwing her with a massive Te guruma. In the past week, which must have been the best in her life, she has won her own weight category and the Open weight in both the South Pacific Games and the Oceania Championships!

It was expected that Nacaneli Qerewaqa would do the same in the men's Open, but this is Judo and nothing is predictable. When Qerewaqa came up against the winner of the -90kg, Australia's Gavin Kelly, he both underestimated him and met a man who was a lot fitter than him. Kelly fought the perfect fight, hitting and running, never letting the Fijian settle, and he threw him - several times - with the same technique, drop seoinage. Qerewaqa had no answer, attacked only twice and was thrown for waza-ari and finally ippon. It was a great win for  Kelly, but in the semi-final he came up against Qerewaqa's younger brother, Nemani Takayawa, who was fitter and ready for the dropper. In a great revenge battle Takayawa threw Kelly for waza-ari with a well timed Osoto gari and moved on into the final against another Australian, -81 kg fighter Priscus Fogagnolo who had surprised everyone with his unusual style and dispatching a Fijian and two New Zealanders. But in the final, though he took the early lead, he could not withstand the power of Takayawa's Osoto gari and was felled for ippon. For the Fijian it was a great moment as he emerged from under the shadow of his famous brother to claim his best ever title and he came off the mat into the arms of his emotional mother.

As a grand finale to the tournament an Australasian team took on a Pacific Islands team in a fourteen person format. For the record Australasia won by 10 wins to 4 but this was more a celebration of Oceania Judo than a serious match, and one cannot help feeling that  Judo in this continent is gaining in both confidence and ability. Next year's championships in New Caledonia will be the major qualification tournament for the Athens Olympics. As a result it will have far higher entries and promises to produce even better Judo.

Simon Hicks