BASINGSTOKE paid the price for sending weakened judo teams to the Hampshire Area Team challenge at Portsmouth.

At the Mountbatten Centre, the six teams represented Portsmouth, Southampton and Basingstoke and many of the fighters had represented Hampshire the previous week at the Southern area inter-counties team event.

Basingstoke's boys started with a 9-2 defeat by Portsmouth.

With four weights missing in a team of 11, Basingstoke's girls left themselves an uphill struggle and went down 8-3 to Portsmouth. A titanic battle was fought out at under-44kg between Portsmouth's Amber Louise Gatt and Michelle Arnold, Arnold eventually winning by a yuko score after both players had scored waza-ari.

Basingstoke's girls bounced back against Southampton's eight players and emerged 6-5 winners to finish second overall. There were contest wins for Marissa and Thalia Laing and Arnold. Portsmouth girls repeated their 8-3 scoreline over Southampton to finish overall winners.

Basingstoke's boys went down 8-3 to Southampton but Sam Sleep snatched a surprise victory when he threw the experienced Tim Walker of Southampton for ippon in the last seconds of the under-34kg category.

The final between Portsmouth and Southampton boys went to the last fight between Portsmouth's Stuart Parsons and Kevin Prior for Southampton. Parson's greater experience showed as Prior was penalised for stepping out and then awarded two further penalties for negative judo to lose by disqualification.

Jon Patterson, Hampshire's junior squad manager, presented a shield to the Paul Jones club for winning their Basingstoke area league.

Basingstoke boys: Under-27kg Louis Moss, under-30kg Ryan Chamberlain, under-34kg Sam Sleep, under-38kg Jeremy Ketchell, under-42kg Richard Holland, under-46kg Ben Cook, under-55kg Peter Bevell, under-60kg Tom Jarvis, over-65kg Chris Pike.

Basingstoke girls: under-25kg Sian Laing, under-28kg Marissa Laing, under-36kg Laura Jarvis, under-40kg Thalia Laing, under-44kg Michelle Arnold, under-56kg Natalie Gent, under-61kg Kirsty Arnold.

The Paul Jones School of Judo scooped 15 medals in the Hampshire closed championships.

In the novice category (red belts only), eight-year-old Amy Jones won a silver medal in the under-32 kg class at her first-ever competition.

There were bronze medals for nine-year-old Louis Moss in the under-27kg, nine-year-old Liam Duce in the under-65kg and eight-year-old Kathryn Jarvis at under-32kg.

The club won five silver medals in the junior category - through teenagers Jeremy Ketchell at under-38kg, Peter Bevell at under-55kg, Michael Goodall at under-60kg, Luke Dyer at under-65kg and Josh Antonini at over-65kg.

There were bronze medals for Ryan Chamberlain, aged nine, in the under-30kg weight, Laura Jarvis, 11, at under-36kg, Michelle Arnold, 13, at under-44kg and Kirsty Arnold, 14, at under-57kg.

There were two senior medal winners with Scott Goodall taking gold at under-100kg and Steve Hutton bronze at under-90kg.