Young judoka Yonas Aldous of Witcham travelled to Newport in Wales to take part in The Brain Tumour Judo Tournament and to take his place in ‘Jamie’s Kids Team’ for the Judo Dream Team Event.

Ely Standard: Yonas and Jamies Kids Team look on as adaptive athlete Jamie Gane takes on one of their team watched closely by the legends team captain Karen Briggs MBEYonas and Jamies Kids Team look on as adaptive athlete Jamie Gane takes on one of their team watched closely by the legends team captain Karen Briggs MBE (Image: Archant)

The weekend was held in memory of talented Welsh judoka Jamie McDonald who sadly lost his battle with a brain tumour back in November aged just 26 years old.

As well as the tournament the Judo Dream Team Event saw 20 British judo legends take on Jamie’s Kids - a group of 20 young judoka selected from across the country. The British judo legends had travelled from all around the world to come together in a team and included past and present Olympic athletes and medallists, world championship medallists, European medallists, high ranking judo coach’s, talented adaptive athletes and many more faces from British judo history.

These included Karen Briggs MBE, Brian Jacks, Jamie Gane, Angelo Parisi, Loretta Cusak-Doyle, Darren Dean, Natalie Powell, Nekoda Smythe Davis, Densign White, to name just a few!

As part of Jamie’s Kids Team Yonas organised several fund-raising events at Littleport Judo Club to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity.

Ely Standard: Yonas and judo legend Darren Dean with their medalsYonas and judo legend Darren Dean with their medals (Image: Archant)

These included a joint training morning with members from judo clubs in Littleport, Witcham, Kings Ely and Saffron Walden all coming together to support the charity, a raffle draw with prizes donated by local businesses and a sponsored throw for members at Littleport Judo Club. In total, a massive £607.98 was raised for the Brain Tumour Charity!

Yonas said “It was fantastic to raise so much for the charity and to get all the members from the local judo clubs involved.

“The legends event in Wales was a brilliant event to be part of. I was matched with judo legend Darren Dean a Judo 6thDan!! Darren is a former international judo player and he was the Welsh judo team manager at the 2014 Commonwealth games when Jamie McDonald won a commonwealth medal.

“It was a real honour to compete with Darren in the dream team event. My team, Jamie’s Kids, won the contest - we beat all the legends! It was a brilliant day.”

Ely Standard: Yonas wears Olympic gold with Olympic Judo Medalists Brian Jacks and Angelo ParisiYonas wears Olympic gold with Olympic Judo Medalists Brian Jacks and Angelo Parisi (Image: Archant)

Yonas also took part in an Olympic judo master class led by Brian Jacks and Angelo Parisi - who between them have five Olympic judo medals. Yonas’s training was rewarded with a silver medal in the boy’s tournament to go alongside the gold medal from the dream team event.

Littleport Judo Club head coach Ray Taylor said “It was fantastic that Yonas was nominated and then chosen to take part in the Dream Team event and it was great to see Yonas bring all the local judo clubs together to raise funds for the charity.

“A massive thank you must go to the staff and management at Littleport Leisure for supporting the fundraising, the local businesses who contributed raffle prizes and to all the young judo players who got involved. A real community effort for a very deserving charity.”

Yonas’ fundraising efforts were also noticed by his school, Witchford Village College, who included Yonas in their Oscars Awards Night for his hard work raising money for The Brain Tumour Charity.

Ely Standard: Group picture of all judo players at the Brain Tumour fundraiser in LittleportGroup picture of all judo players at the Brain Tumour fundraiser in Littleport (Image: Archant)

Ely Standard: Yonas matside about to take part in the tournamentYonas matside about to take part in the tournament (Image: Archant)