Braydon Robus from Rye and Isabelle Everest from Bexhill made history for British Judo at the weekend. They took part in the first-ever Adaptive European Championships and Kata and topped the podium.
Braydon Robus’ excited mum, Janine, sent an email from Sarajevo to alert Rye News to some world-breaking news for Great Britain. “Braydon and Isabelle have achieved gold in the adaptive Newaza nage no kata category 1a. They are the first ever GBR kata pairing to come away from a European Judo Union Kata Championship competition with a medal position, let alone getting gold! We are still in Sarajevo waiting to fly home.”
Here is the report of their success from the British Judo website: “The pair scored an impressive 261.0 points for their nage no kata to take home the gold medal. Their incredible performance saw them secure the second-highest points tally of the day across all other disciplines. The competition marked the first time that the European Judo Union has held an official event whereby both able-bodied and people with physical and intellectual disabilities were competing together in the same event. In the case of British pairing, both Braydon and Isabelle have adaptive needs.”
Braydon’s mum Janine added: “Braydon has bilateral iris colobomas and anterior segment dysgenesis of his eyes. He also has hypermobility in his hands, is severely dyslexic and has sensory processing disorder. He is currently awaiting an autism and ADHD assessment. We are incredibly proud of what Braydon has achieved and is striving to achieve in his life.”
Isabelle’s mum Paula was full of emotion at seeing the pair awarded the medals after being told by a neurologist years earlier that “I don’t know what the future holds for Izzie, she has significant brain damage so it’s really up to her and you.”
“For Izzie, this was a dream to represent her country: for me, it was a moment to reflect. Well, it takes a village to raise a child – and we had a city of amazing people, and yesterday she sat on the podium to the national anthem. Thank you, judo for being part of her journey is all I can say.”
Earlier this year, Braydon and his sister, Sophia, also had medal success in a major competition in the Netherlands and won medals and trophies making them world champions in judo kata, and European Champions in judo fighting, as reported in Rye News in May.
Image Credits: British Judo , British judo .