Sports chief's delight at Walsall judo centre
Sport minister Helen Grant donned a judo suit and tried out some of her throwing techniques on students.
The Tory MP, herself a former junior champion, reaquainted herself with some of her old skills at the British judo headquarters at the Wolverhampton University campus in Gorway Road.
She said: "I was so happy to put on a judo suit again. The centre is fantastic. I'm delighted that the students here have got the facilities they need and deserve. They're 100 percent better than when I was competing."
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The former brown belt three flash was North of England and South Scotland junior judo champion in her youth.
She took up the sport when she was six but had to stop aged 13 because she was too young to progress to a black belt, she said.
She is currently campaigning for a fairer deal for women in sport.
"We've got more young women doing sport than ever but there's still a gender gap of two million men to women which I'm determined to close."
The minister, who became first black female Tory MP in 2010 and the party's first female sports minister, showed she had lost none of her old skills as she demonstrated two throws - a goshi and a tomanage - on student Jonathan Drane and world silver medallist Ebony Drysdale-Daley.
"I was great, I just fell back into it," she said.
The minister chatted with students, including Commonwealth silver medallist Jodie Myers, before leaving for St George's Park National Football Centre in Burton-on-Trent as part of a whistlestop tour of the region.
Kerrith Brown, chairman of the British Judo Association, said of the minister's floor show: "You can tell she's done it before. She did very well."
He added: "It was great to have the sports minister here. We're very proud of the facilities here at the Walsall campus. We have 19 podium athletes here from around the country funded by UK Sport as well as some self-funders.There are 14 more potential podium athletes who train here.
"British judo lost has not been strong since the late 1980s-early 90s. It lost its way but we have started winning medals again. It's going well."
