An ex-Westbury resident has won a gold medal in judo at the recent Virtus Global Games in France, after winning all five of his fights.
19-year-old Joshuha Hodkinson, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s five years ago, travelled to Vichy, France in June in order to represent the UK in adaptive judo at the Virtus Games – a world-wide competition that sees the world’s top athletes with intellectual impairment compete against each other.
Joshuha explained, “When I was handed the medal, it felt like everything I had worked towards paid off as I faced some tough opposition throughout this competition. My first opponent was the world champion, and he has many other awards to his name, however, I was able to endure the nerves to win the fight.
“The first fight was probably one of the toughest fights I had on the day. The final fight was tough also, as about a minute into the fight I had landed on my neck causing quite a bit of pain, however I pushed through it and got the fight winning score not so long after.”
Joshuha attended both Westbury Infants School and Westbury Junior School, before moving to Chorley in 2013. Joshuha’s dad David says he is very proud of Joshuha’s achievements, and he has big hopes for him for Team GB next year.
He said, “I was extremely proud of Joshuha winning the gold; I was actually on a flight back to the UK when he was fighting so once I got through customs and turned on my phone, I disregarded all my messages and went straight to YouTube to go watch the fights as they were recorded on there. As soon as I knew he had won I was on the phone right away congratulating him and telling him how proud his mum Kate and I are of him.
“It has amazed me over the years how well Joshuha has done as I remember taking Josh to Trowbridge Judo Club when he was just seven years old and seeing him standing at the back worrying about joining in – flashforward 12 years later and he goes all over the world with the sport.
“The big step up will be next year as he hopes to be selected for the squad going to the Paralympics in Paris 2024. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing how much the sport of judo has helped Joshuha after his Asperger’s diagnosis and gave him confidence to go further in the sport.”
Joshuha has his sights set on the upcoming British National Adaptive competition in August and the Nihon Dutch Open in Netherlands in November.
He added, “I hope to be selected to represent Great Britain in the Paralympics being held in Paris next year as adaptive judo is going to be a demonstration sport there.”
