British Masters squad members Sean Askin and Chris Horton travelled to Dublin last weekend to take part in the Irish Masters Judo Open.

The event is increasing in its popularity, with entrants from both sides of the Irish border, the northwest of England and as far afield as Germany and Austria.

Both performed admirably and continued their good form from the British Open two weeks’ prior.

Askin started the gold rush by claiming gold medals in the under-90kg M1 age category for both Kyu grades (lower grades) and the all grades category.

Making easy work of the lower grades category with his trademark drop seoi-nage shoulder throw, he faced some tough opponents in the all grades category, with the hardest being against Ireland’s Brian McGilloway who Askin faced in the London event.

Finding himself a score down with 30 seconds to go, Askin dug deep to launch a ko-soto-gari counter in the dying seconds to secure the win and a second gold medal.

As defending champion in the u100kg M3 category, Horton was out first in his category and beat his first opponent within 40 seconds with a smooth throw and hold-down combination.

This qualified him for the final and, after scores were level at the end of the regulation three minutes, the match went into golden score where the next positive attack wins the contest.

One and a half minutes into golden score, Horton blocked his opponent’s attempt at a throw and turned him over to hold him with a 10-second shoulder hold to achieve the required score and claim his first gold medal of the day and retain last year’s title.

Horton then competed in the open weight category, which can often be a tricky one based on differing sizes and techniques amongst the factors that makes this category so appealing.

Horton made short work of his quarter-final opponent and, after winning the semi-final with great composure against a lighter and faster opponent, found his toughest contest in the final.

But as his adversary tried to counter a dominant grip, Horton launched in for a ko-soto-gake of his own which landed his opponent flat on his back to secure his second personal gold of the day and the fourth in total.

Speaking after the event, head coach Horton remarked: ‘This has been a good event for us to attend historically and I’m glad that Isle of Man Judo has been able to pick up a great medal haul.

‘The Irish Masters are really friendly and helpful, and the level of competition was just what we were looking for.

‘Many thanks to all our training partners and to assistant coach Errol Savage for his support before the event, as he was unable to travel to Ireland with us this time.’

For Askin, this sees an explosive emergence onto the national judo scene, after times where the 2009 and 2019 Island Games athlete has fluttered in and out of the sport over the last decade or so.

Horton has one more major event left this year and has flown directly from Dublin to Abu Dhabi where he competes in the World Veterans Championships later this week.