Competition Day

before every competition you always find it hard to sleep due to lack of hydration, nerves and sleeping on a rock solid bed. But i always try to do what it says in the bible where it says 'why worry about tomorrows problems, when you have enough problems to worry about today.' (Matthew 6 v34)

Trail Weigh in was at 6am - 7am so i went on down and weighed 59.9kg so i had a little bit of powerade to drink and came up to my room and went back to sleep until official trial at 7am.
I was the second one weighed in so i quickly loaded up on some powerade full of sodium (so it tastes like crap) and i had a ham salad sandwich for breakfast.

My first fight i had a guy from Indonesia so i handled him pretty quickly got him in a hold down and man he nearly got out 4 times (and i am quite strong and have good ne waza.)

To watch that fight click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy-j1WLIZcg

My second fight was like 2 hours later against a guy from Chinese Taipei. Now they arent a very big nation but man was he good, he had a good l;eft switch and i found that i didnt have a plane with him, he was all over me but something happened and i ended up taking him backwards with a kinda uranage / tani otoshi throw for ippon, i was so happy to beat him because it guarentess a medal and i was really at a loss at what to do against the bloke.

To watch second round click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UysQHkebk

The final was against the Japanese guy who beat the korean first round, i knew he was really quick off the grips and had nice judo (as all japanese do.)
So i came out hard and really muscled him, headbutting and dragging his head down.
I faked a massive footy tackle and he sprawled right on his face and then when he stood up i faked a shot again,
i was all over him and then he poked me in the eye and when i turned around he tried to throw me and that is just unsportsmanslike you know.
After that i got a big top grip and kick his foot for a KO ouchi and then next thing you know i was driving his shoulders into the mat for ippon (or full winning score)
and i won
i was so happy no one thought that i was going to beat the Japanese guy but i really gave it to him and was on top from the beginning.

Unfortunately i didn't bring my camera charger and so i only got my first 2 fights on my camera but my coach Gav got the final so as soon as i get it ill whack it up here because its the fight i fought really good in and it was the final.

I was also really happy when i got my medal because they played the national anthem and its not everyday do you see the Aussie flag flying higher than the Japanese flag.
So many people from other countries were congratulating me cos no one likes how the Japanese always win. so i was pretty happy i even got a big bouquet of flowers for winning.

ill see if i can take a photo of my medal and post it on here.

After the medal ceremony i had to get drug tested but i was pretty hydrated so it only took me all up around 20 minutes to get through all the paperwork.

Tonight we had a function but the food was crap so an good friend of mine Quang phung and i went out to dinner at a traditional Taiwanese restaurant chain and something to eat, i ate some good stuff.

Now im off to bed i can barely keep my eyes open but ill just add 2 throws you can have a look at that are a good depiction of what classifies as a winning score.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLCYA2kk5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWjpzZvWuDU

There is a rumour going round at the moment that i am the first aussie male to win a pac rim championships so thats pretty cool. Although i wasnt really that nervous leading into the competition today. i guess i feel like i train very hard and put alot of effort and time into training and sacrificing alot that me winning is just the result of all the hard work i put in and that i deserve it.

I also wanna thank my beautiful wife samantha because she is so wonderfully supportive its crazy. Whenever i call and im all tired, grumpy and hungary you always supports me and look after me. Sam your such a blessing in my life and i thank God everyday your in my life,

So now im finally off to bed and have a nice big sleep in.

Have an awesome day guys
Matt