Coach of Dutch world champion leads his son to Commonwealth glory
Dutch Judo Federation coach JP Bell was spotted in an environment that was highly familiar to him as a former long-time coach for the British Judo Association.
This time JP, who was the matside coach when Noel Van T End recently won the Worlds in Tokyo, was there to work with his 20-year-old son Joshua Bell who took part in the junior men’s -66kg category.
The 2018 English Junior Open bronze medallist defeated Ealing Judo Club’s Showgo Kimura in the final to win Commonwealth gold.
“I was always targeting gold here,” said Bell who trains on a weekly basis at the Dutch Judo Federation’s national training centre in Papendal with champions such as Van T End who was watching the live stream of his young training partner’s final.
“I worked hard and really tried to keep my focus throughout the day. It was my first competition in a while and I’m pleased with the outcome.”
Judo has had many father-son duo’s over the years and each with their own level of success.
“It’s certainly different having my dad in the coaching chair for me, he’s obviously more than a coach for me and he’s done so much to help me.
“I’m looking to do the Malaga European Cup next as I’m in my last year of juniors and from there I’ll see what’s best for me.”
Proud dad JP, who darted straight back to his coaching duties after his son's final, was eventually free to share his thoughts on Joshua's outing in Walsall.
“I’m very pleased with him, we had a target here and he had some difficult fights but kept his composure and managed his day well.
“It’s difficult to coach him as his father. It’s a different kind of feeling but I enjoy it and he’s a hard worker.
“He has a great relationship with the Dutch squad and is good friends with Noel who sent him messages during the day and was watching the stream. It’s important for him to be around such role models and he’s learning every day from them.”
JP, who returns to the Netherlands on Friday for their national championships, also revealed the target for his leading man Noel for the remainder of 2019.
“We’re looking at the Osaka Grand Slam and China Masters for Noel to compete. On his day he’s unbeatable as we saw in Tokyo. He’s been threatening to achieve a big result like this for a long time and since Tokyo he’s already beaten Beka Gviniashvili again in the German league series.”
Former world champion Loretta Cusack-Doyle hails Commonwealth movement
British Judo women’s pioneer, former world champion and British Judo Association board director Loretta Cusack-Doyle was among the distinguished judo greats in attendance on day two.
Cusack-Doyle, who will be travelling to Brazil next week to commentate for the IJF at the Brasilia Grand Slam, won the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland.
“The Commonwealth Games and commonwealth events have also been something that’s very important to me both as an athlete and later as a coach and official.
“I’ve been very impressed by what I’ve seen here in Walsall,” said the IJF Education and Coaching Commission member who served as the Technical Operations Manager for Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“I have to congratulate the organisers who’ve worked tirelessly to organise this competition and the excellent set of volunteers who have been so supportive to everyone.
“There’s a wonderful atmosphere and friendly spirit here which is what the Commonwealth movement is all about,” added the double European champion.
Joy for Jamaica
Jamaica’s Ebony Drysdale-Daley become her country’s first female Commonwealth Judo Championships gold medallist with victory in the -70kg category.
Birmingham-based Drysdale-Daley, 24, beat England’s Annie Boby in the final for a popular win and now look forward to returning to the IJF circuit with renewed vigour.
From Grand Prix fifth to Commonwealth gold in seven days
India’s Shushila Devi Likmabam struck -48kg gold as she beat teammate Rishita Haribhai Kareliya in the final. The 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Likmabam lost out to Ukraine’s Maryna Cherniak in Uzbekistan after impressive wins over Slovenia’s Marusa Stangar, Britain’s Kimberley Renicks and Russia’s Alesya Kuznetsova.
India beat Wales in the -60kg final as the high-quality Vijay Kumar Yadav beat Daniel Rabbitt of Dragon’s Judo Academy in what was unanimously described as one of the best contests of the competition so far.
British champion Gregg Varey fell to India’s Saini Jasleen Singh in the men’s -66kg category on his debut for Wales. Singh memorably finished fifth at the Tbilisi Grand Prix in March but lost his opening contests at the Worlds and the Tashkent Grand Prix most recently.
Watch day three on Friday live from 09:30am on the British Judo YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/BritishJudo