Manx judoka Chris Horton travelled to Hamburg, Germany last weekend as part of the four-strong Great Britain team taking part in the European Veterans Cup.

Horton was accompanied on the trip by coach Errol Savage, who was also acting as the team’s general manager.

Horton had entered into the tachi-waza (standing fighting) and ne-waza (groundwork fighting) events, and after a sharp introduction into this level of competition by European Championship silver medallist Georgi Modebaze from Georgia, he recovered and battled hard against Petur Sigurd Johannesen from the Faroe Islands.

The duo have previous history, having contested at the 2019 Island Games in Gibraltar, before Horton showed some strong techniques against Hamburg native Samuel Frevert in the third-place play-off, which would eventually see the Peel man secure the bronze medal.

After a short break, Horton was back on the tatami for the ne-waza competition, which takes out the throws and takedowns, and concentrates on the hold downs and submissions.

Facing Michael Griessin the preliminary round, he found himself turned over into a strong kata-gatame hold down which he was unable to escape from and dropped into the repechage to compete for the bronze medal.

Unfortunately his opponent, Daluet Amirbek from Kazakhstan, was quick to secure a turnover, and despite his best efforts, Horton ran out of time as the 20-second hold was applied for the Kazakh fighter to take the win and the bronze medal, with Horton taking fifth place.

Reflecting on his achievements, Horton said: ‘It wasn’t my best judo but I gave 100% and I am pleased to return home with a medal.

‘Thanks to Errol for his support, and to all my training partners at home and further afield who have helped me prepare for this event.

‘It was nice to see my fellow islander Petur at the event, as we have not seen each other since 2019 and we were able to speak about preparations for judo in the Faroes’ Island Games in 2027.’

This event marks the start of a busy autumn season for Horton, who follows up his trip to Hamburg with a visit to Dublin in October to defend his Irish Masters Open title, followed by a trip to Las Vegas in November to representGreat Britain once again at the World Veterans Judo Championships.

Anyone who wishes to follow his progress can do so via Isle of Man Judo’s Facebook page –www.facebook.com/iomjudo – and any opportunities for sponsorship can be made by emailing [email protected]