Gold star Kane keeping his London ambitions in check

3:20pm Saturday 6th September 2008

LACKHAM'S Kane Charig has played down talk of reaching the London Olympics in 2012 despite taking judo gold at the UK School Games, writes NICK CLOWES.

The 17-year-old underlined his growing pedigree in the sport after defeating training partner Liam Franklin in the final of the under 60kg category.

But Charig - who attends Wiltshire College in Lackham - insists he faces an uphill task to realise his dream of competing in his home Olympics in four years' time.

"It's going to be tough," said Charig. "I'm certainly building up to the Olympics and that is something I am really aiming for.

"But it might be a big ask to make that team and 2016 could be a more realistic option for me.

"Competitions like this though are all about experience and that will help me achieve my goals."

"I'm planning for the Olympics but we'll see yet - there are a lot of competitions to come before I start worrying about that."

And Charig - who trains with silver medallist Franklin at Bath University - insisted facing his friend in the final was the worst possible scenario.

"I didn't really want to fight him in a way because we know each other so well," added Charig.

"When you fight your training partner it is never easy - he knew what I was going to do before I did it and vice-versa.

"But I'm pretty pleased with how it went overall.

"The fight was a lot more physical than the rest of the fights leading up to it.

"It was a different kind of match than I am used to but I got the gold medal and that is all that matters to me. I just want to kick on from this now and see where it takes me.

"It's a fantastic starting point but I've got more work to do now."