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WUKF JUNIOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

Just when you think it cant get much better than this (ie Lignano). It does !!!

Even WUKF 'new boy' Mr Terry Pottage had to admit that 'it was impressive'!!! And coming from someone who has been there done it and got several t shirts that's quite an affirmation.

Karate England had there biggest ever squad attend this the 2nd WUKF European Junior Championships in Gyor, Hungary.



A quick flight to Vienna and an hour transfer saw the party of nearly eighty arrive at the Hotel Famulous and prepare for an exciting weekend of top quality karate.

The coaching team of Abdu shaher, Ian cuthbert, Trisha jordan, Julia Heenan and Brad Moore were supported by officials Azad Kumar, Sonia Powell, Mark green, Dave Brashaw and Joanne fisher and an enthusiastic group of parents.

The venue was a huge arena at the nearby University , seemingly a recent build it was a brilliant setting.

The entry was 1490 competitors , 10 tatamis with over 100 officials.

Day One

The first day saw all the kata events and we had the strange experience of having two favourites for gold in Holly and Mitchell Roberts. They did'nt let us down with both taking gold in the female and male cadet shito ryu events respectively. Showing their usual fine form to the winners rostrum.



Newcomer Sam O Mara has obviously been inspired by Holly and Mitchells success over the last few years and took a well deserved bronze himself in  the male cadet wado ryu kata.

In the team kata events Karate England had two teams make the final . The boys and girls cadet shito ryu kata teams. The boys coached by Trisha Jordan won silver and the girls Coached by Phil Patrick took bronze.

In the childrens under 15 years events Emily Valentine picked up two medals , silver in kata and bronze in kumite and Liam Powell took bronze in the boys 13-14 kumite.

In fact the weekend running order had all finals on the Sunday so there was a big pressure on everyone over the weekend to stay focused once they had made the final and then reproduce top form once again on the finals day. A big ask !!

The last events of the  Friday were the team Sanbon events. We had two teams in both male and female cadet plus a male junior (18-20) team. The opposition was top notch and although the male cadet made the quarter finals the only team to get a medal was the female cadet A team with Shauna Carroll , Maddie Moore , Dani Lester and Anna Bott.

Day Two

Saturday saw all the individual kumite events and rotation events. It seemed like a big ask but with ten tatamis and 100 officials the schedule ran smoothly and quickly.

Dani Lester took a well deserved bronze in the female cadet U55k but our other two 'big guns' in the female cadets Maddie Moore and Shauna Carroll both went out in the early rounds. A blow to our expected medals tally.

In the male cadet kumite however, despite very large event numbers, Karate England hit pay dirt!

In the male cadet U60k Ryan Correya and Mitchell Roberts were probably the two lightest of the 47 competitors, fortunately they were in separate halves of the draw because amazingly they both made the final. Mitchell s priority had been kata but he has flourished in WUKF and has adapted nicely to the harder hitting format and is fast becoming a force in the kumite. Squad mate Ryan with more experience in the kumite side of things faced Mitchell in the Sunday final, all the coaches withdrew and let them get on with it. The result was a win for a very classy Ryan Correya but a well deserved silver for Mitchell.



In the big boys section Karate England had another two big hitters in current WUKF world champion Charlie Collins and fellow team mate Adam Carrigan-smith both WUKF world team champions from last years event in Brazil.

Although they are both big lads they did seem to be the two smallest competitors in their section , yet again.

Adam battled through various rounds eventually losing to a very strong Hungarian in the semi final. Charlie had one or two hiccups but oozed world class as he cruised to the final. Facing the big Hungarian in Sundays final Charlie went one wazari down , equalised and then went 2-1 down. He pulled it back to 2-2 with another gyakuzuki chudan , face punched to go 3-2 up and then attacked with some excellent footwork and hurt his opponent with a superb left body punch. At 4-2 his opponent threw caution to the wind and Charlie switched stance and defended with a reverse roundhouse kick to the head. It brought the  house down and also gave Charlie a European title to go along with his World crown.  Congratulations to him!



In the team rotation events the male cadet A team  with Charlie Adam and Ryan put the  current champions Romania to the sword , beat Italy then got disqualified in the quarter finals against eventual winners Ukraine. The B team with Ben Poulter , Ben Turner and Sam O Mara  had better luck winning their pool but losing 9-6 in the semi final against Portugal. But a hugely deserved bronze for the lads.

In the male Junior rotation first round Garrick Eastwood took the Romanian team out single handedly with six straight points in the first minute. The opposition  stiffened considerably after that but the boys made the semi final only to lose out to Portugal in a feisty semi final battle.

In the female team rotation the B team of Jordanne Collins , Fern Sugden and Courtney Rivers went out in the early rounds but the A team of Shauna Carroll , Maddie Moore , Dani Lester and Anna Bott stormed their pool  to make their final.Remember that Karate England female cadets are current World champions at rotation and they looked it as they swept aside the opposition.

In the final they faced Italy who never really had a chance to get off their blocks before they were 3-0 down to a barrage of attacks and counter attacks from the English trio.  The match was stopped before time was up as England gained a six point advantage and the gold went to England.



With so many areas on the go and a huge number of officials it was possible to run some Senior International events alongside the Junior events 3 male and 3 female.  We has success there as well with Lee Willis winning silver in the lightweight and Phil Patrick taking the gold in the middleweight. Well done to both of them.



Next years calendar looks interesting with trips to Scotland and Serbia but also the introduction of a 'Five Nations League'.

Watch this space

A fantastic event and great weekend from venue, hotel, presentation the works.



6 Gold. 4 Silver and 9 Bronze.

Sixth place on the medals table

Well done to everyone !

2ND EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP 2011

Karate England finish second in medals table.

The 2nd European champions cup comes a little close to the forthcoming WUKF European junior championships ino Gyor, Hungary. The result was a slight reduction in numbers in the cadet and junior sections but the standard was excellent, if not better than last year and proved a good work out for the Karate England team.



On the first day we saw current English champion Liam Powell take first place in the boys 13-14 heavyweight with squad mate Bobby Grafton taking a creditable bronze in the same section.


In the veterans events karate England made both finals but had to settle for two silvers, Rob Ward losing to the Romanian world silver medallist and Lynn Aston unfortunately being disqualified in her final whilst comfortably leading 5-2.

Most of the squad were competing on the second day.

Holly and Mitchell Roberts continued their winning streak with golds in the female and male cadet shito ryu kata sections. Holly went on to win the best of the best. (all kata style winners competing off against each other). Mitchell took silver in his best of the best match.

Mitchell also took bronze in the male cadet light weight kumite making it a triple medal haul for him.

In the female cadet light weight Maddison Moore stormed through her rounds to win her final and then went on to win the best of the best of the cadets in fine form.

Ashley Ogbekene had some strong opposition in the ladies heavyweights but despite some recurring fitness problems she managed to win her final 6-5 against a tough Romanian opponent. She then went on to win the best of the best in the ladies kumite.


In the men's middleweight event Nick Karanicholas and Barry Battson both made the semi final but unfortunately it was the same semi final. Barry took the victory and went on to the final whilst Nick had to settle for bronze. In the final however Barry took a finger in the eye and despite some minor heroics had to settle for silver.


In the heavyweights John Anderson was disqualified whilst leading 4-2 during the quarter final. Dan Cuthbert beat some stiff opposition including the Hungarian number one to make the final only to be outclassed on the day by Denmarks current world champion Spy Maga.

Holly scanes fought brilliantly in her first international trip to win a bronze in the female cadet heavyweight section, this was followed by the female cadet team of Holly Roberts, Holly Scanes and Polly Goodman taking a well deserved silver in both Sanbon and rotation team events.

In the senior teams the ladies squad was a little thin on this trip so Maddison Moore stepped up from the cadets and Lynn Aston moved down from the veterans to fill the gaps. Ashley Ogbekene continued her fine form and the team took silver in the senior female team rotation.

In the men's team event we had lost both Nick Karanicholas and Barry Battson from selection due to injuries so our mens team was led out by John Anderson, Dan Cuthbert and Phil Patrick.

In the Sanbon event we lost to Rapid Bucharest 2-1, Rapid being last years winners.

In the team rotation however we had a little more success going through against Hungary and Italy to meet Rapid again in the semi final. This time The England team won through in what was a real battle and faced a very strong Denmark team in the final.

The Danish team with the Greek Maga brothers were looking very strong, the two brothers had won the shobu ippon open and the Sanbon heavynweight events and had swept aside the opposition on their way to the final.

Karate England started off with John Anderson and he quickly took two wazari s (halfpoints) against their third man, Denmark made a change and put on one of the Maga brothers. The score held,the England coach put out Daniel who went forward and scored a jodan kick putting England 4-0 up. The Danes settled and pegged back to 4-3, England changed to Anderson. In a fast exchange. The Dane caught John's leg and delivered an illegal throw and briefly John was out of the match. The referee gave chui to Denmark. England changed and Cuthbert came out again and immediately threw a fast jodan hand combination which caused some damage to his opponent's face. After some treatment Dan received a chui also.


Cuthbert got England back to a 6-5 lead with less than a minute to go Both teams were on their last warning. England changed again and Anderson came out. Denmark attacked John countered with a face punch and landed too heavily, the Danish fighter needed treatment to a cut lip. England were disqualified, Denmark took the trophy but England kept their pride.

Karate england finished second in the medals table behind the Cluj University home team but ahead of the rest of the 37 squad field. An improvement on last years standing said coaches Abdu shah and Ian Cuthbert and a stiff test for the juniors going to the European under 21 championships in Hungary in October.

Coaches Abdu Shah, Ian Cuthbert, Julia Heenan and Brad Moore were more than happy with the 16 man squads performance. Congratulations also to Azad Kumar, Sonia Powell and Geoff Marks for their work as officials during the weekend.

In a few weeks Karate England will take over 80 people to the Junior European s in Hungary. The best of luck to everyone .

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CHRISTOPHE PINNA COURSE - SENNIGALLIA 2011

It's five years ago that Ian cuthbert first took a group of students out to Italy for Christophe Pinna's summer school. Each year since a group from Shikon has been present and have continued to make friends with not only the Italians present but also with karateka from all over Europe.

Organisers maurizio and Valentino have worked hard to create a friendly atmosphere and with such a strong group returning year after year they no longer advertise the seminar freely.

There is no politics on the course there are karateka from WUKF and WKF, in fact this year there were WKF people from Wales, France, Italy, Germany and Denmark which rather makes a joke, quite rightly, of the WKFs 21.9 statute. Incidentally the word is that the Danish high courts have taken a dim view of the WKF s 21.9 and ruled it illegal. Let's see where that takes them.

Meanwhile on that note many of Italy s karateka are looking forward to England Karate legend Wayne Ottos visit later this year. His course apparently being hosted by FIK who recently hosted the WUKF World championships in Lignano Italy.

The course itself was fantastic with Christophe demonstrating with his usual panache , super drills, clever footwork amid a great sense of camaraderie.

The hotels were great, the beach superb and the weather hot (perhaps a little too hot at times.

With morning and evening sessions it's not for the fainthearted but everyone was looking at rebooking for next year. Indeed Maurizio and Valentino were kind enough to schedule 2012s course away from the Shikon open on 1st July. Next years course will be 5/6/7/8 th July

Book early spaces are limited.

Anyone interested in attending next years course please e mail me on Cuthbertshikon@aol.com

 

 

 

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3RD SHIKON LONDON INTERNATIONAL OPEN 2011

Well it's good to see that sport karate in the 'free world' is happy and flourishing. The 3rd Shikon international open saw the children's events reduced in the number of categories in order that more attention can be given to cadet and adult events. The result was over 350 entries 250 of which were 15 years and above i.e. Cadets and adults. Next year we will look at a separate children's event completely with team rotation and style kata sections.

There was a strong contingent from leading world figure Romania who arrived with mr Liviu Crisan WUKF general secretary. Also came several groups from Ireland. Mr Columba Mcloughlins UKF squad with European ladies kumite champion Denise Donaghey, European Waco ryu veterans kata champion mr Dave bras haw and his son came from carnalea kc and eamon yore from Kells karate. On top of that Mr Jacek Lepinski came with his strong Polish London based group school of masters.

Interesting that as with last years events we had WKF people enter and subsequently join Karate England, this year we had more EKF people brave the WKF thought police, to take part in a true open event and they too seemed to enjoy the day. Let's see...?


The prompt nine thirty start began with the kata events, with one area kicking off the 12-14 childrens open sections, area 2 shotokan style senior events area 3 Wado Ryu events and area 4 Shito Ryu style. The separate style kata events has rejuvenated the kata sections as everyone feels they get a fair chance. Each year, the adult sections increase and chief referee Columba Mcloughlin was pretty much able to get same style referees to the relevant areas, so that worked well. So much better than all styles in together and making it become a choice for the referees as to whether they prefer 'oranges' or 'apples'.

The Romanians long ago looked for suitable individuals from various styles and came well equipped with exponents of Shotokan. Wado Ryu and Shito Ryu something that the karate England coaching staff is gradually being able to address. No surprise then that the Romanians took gold in the mens Shotokan, mens Wado Ryu, mens Shito Ryu and mens open sections along with gold in the ladies senior Shotokan ladies Wado Ryu. In the children's sections they took gold in the two kata sections up to 1st kyu.


Karate England back winning the two children's sections 1st kyu and above and also took gold in the ladies shito ryu and open sections through Holly Roberts and Lizzie Jeffries respectively.


In team kata the Romanian success continued with Hayashi Active winning the children's team kata and Cluj Polytechnic the senior team kata.

In the children's kumite events. Craig Brashaw won the biggest category of the day, the boys u45k. Scott Quinlan took the u50k section for Shikon and Kamil Creczowski (School of Masters) won the boys u55k. Team mate Lukasz Ambrozewicx took the u60k, and in the heavyweight section Liam Powell (shikon) continued his run of golds with a win over Sam o Marat.


In the girls sections it was virtually a clean sweep for Shikon girls with wins for Amy Hulbert (u40k), Laura Jones (u45k), Beth Williams (u50k) and Ella Rechter (u55k), with Philippa Ernst from AMA breaking the run with a win in the o55k.

In the boys team kumite the strong UKF team from Burnfoot Ireland, beat Shikon East 'b' in the final with Shikon North 'a' beating kyoji Kai in the girls team final.

The plan for kumite was to run the childrens kumite events along with cadet kumite events until one thirty, at which point there was to be an international male team rotation event between England and Romania. Remarkably despite a large late entry the plan ran to time.

At twenty past one the pa system introduced the VIPs, Mr Abdu Shaher from Karate England, Mr Liviu Crisan and Mr Radu Mreoanu from the Romanian federation. Followed by the contingent of officials from Ireland. Mr Columba, Mr Denis Donaghey and Mr Kevin Lewis. The coaches Mr Glen Middleton for England and Mr Mihai for Romania. The 500 strong crowd gave them all a warm reception.

Next the fighters. First Liviu Dodoc (European light weight bronze medallists), then Raoul (European light heavy weight champion), then last Christian Pop World u75k champion) For England, Leon Martin (former world shubo ippon champion), Dan Cuthbert (European triple bronze medallist) and then John Anderson (World u80k bronze medallist). Both the first and second days had finished about 4 pm so this left time to relax on the beach, talk to old friends from other countries or just catch up on sleep. It's a credit to the organisers that with so many countries and competitors that they were able to use all 8 tatamis almost continuously throughout the day.

Lights ...............action !!!!!'!!!

For those of you new to team rotation a little explanation.

Two three man teams, a running clock, which stops only when the referee asks, six minutes a match, the coaches can call a change of fighter at any time but they have to stay on a minimum of fifteen seconds before another change can be called. A difference of six points wins it or the team with the highest score at the end of six minutes. If the match goes to time all three fighters from each team must have been on the tatami or the team gets disqualified.

The match started with Christian pop v John Anderson for England with the early lead going to england with wazari. Romania replied with an ippon jodan punch . Just a quick note to new comers. An ippon technique is one judged to be decisive a wazari is an effective technique but not decisive.


England 2-1 down Anderson responded with a superb jodan mawashi geri to go 3-2 up. England coach Glen Middleton called change, forcing Pop to stay on and face Dan Cuthbert who quickly attacked his tiring opponent and scored back to back face punches, taking the score to 6-2. Romania then called change and Raoul came on and immediately pulled one back for Romania, 6-3. England called change and Leon Martin came on losing two points and scoring one, 7-4 England. After Romania's next change to Liviu Dodic, the score went to 7-5. The next change went to Romania again forcing Leon Martin to stay on and Christian Pop scored an ippon before Glen Middleton called change and put out Dan Cuthbert 7-7. Christian then scored wazari to put Romania 8-7 up with three seconds on the clock. From the Mark Dan Cuthbert pulled his opponent and attacked with a skilful hand combination which saw yamae called and right on time the referee awarded a wazari. Final score 8-8.

Enchosen or sudden death , the crowd was enthralled. At this point the coaches can change fighters or leave their man out on the tatami. Both coaches left their fighters out. Christian and dan moved cautiously around the mat. Both had scored on each other with attacks but were both capable of defending effectively. Christian attacked, dan blocked and countered but as the referee called Yamae it was Christian that was quite rightly awarded the point. 9-8 to Romania and what a match. If you go on to Videos, you can watch the whole match. Enjoy !!!


After a short break the schedule continued again with the cadet and senior kumite events.

In the male cadet u60k we saw all four medals go to Shikon fighters but from four different clubs. All then boys knew each other well and have often fought each other which led to some very cagey fights. The final between Ryan Correya and Sam Hulbert went to and fro Ryan the eventual winner. The male cast u70k saw Sam Ernst AMA beat Connor Hill Shikon while in the heavyweight section o70k Charlie Collins continued to dominate with a close win over team mate Adam Carrigan - Smith.


In the female cadet sections club mates Rebecca Barton-Hagger and her namesake rebecca flowers took the light and heavy weight sections respectively with fine wins over very strong opponents.


In the cadet team kumite events Shikon East dominated both Sanbon and team rotation, Charlie Collins, Adam Carrigan - Smith and Conor Hill virtually unstoppable. In the female cadet events Shikon West did their own double with Shauna Carroll, Dani Lester and Anna James bott the victors.


In the senior individuals England international Lee Willis ran into a tricky opponent from SKCE Mohammed salih But steered past him to take gold in e u65k.


In the u75k final Barry Battson faced Christian Pop in what was one of the most enthralling engagements of the day. The score went back and forth with Battson showing real determination and eventually putting the current world champion to the sword with a 4-3 win.


The heavy weights saw old rivals John Anderson and Leon Martin battle it out again. England squad mates Dan Cuthbert and Jason Marquis had to settle for bronzes with John eventually taking a well deserved gold.


The senior female sections saw the return of a well known face Jenna Shilston who proceeded to take out all opposition on her way to meet Lindsey turnbull in a close final which Jenna won 1-0.


In the heavyweights Ashley Ogbekene battled it out with World cadet champion Ami Wright Hamilton who has recently moved up to seniors. Ashley came out on top with Ami having to settle for silver.


In the teams Cluj Poly from Romania took on Shikon East with Leon Martin, Dan Cuthbert and Jason Marquis in the Sanbon final. The match eventually ran out a draw on fights and points and dan cuthbert again went out to fight Christian Pop in a deciding match and lost in enchosen.

In the male rotation Shikon East were more fortunate. The Shikon west team with John Anderson kindly out on loan from kyoji Kai put out the Romanians indeed John did it almost single handedly. Shikon East then put the west team to the sword in the final.


In the female senior team events Ashley Ogbekene led out the Shikon east team to victory over Red Star in the Sanbon, but could not manage the double by winning the rotation event. Red star with Ami Wright Hamilton. Maddie Moore and Denise donaghey took gold in the tag team format.

In the ippon events Adam Cockfield from SSKI took a well deserved gold in the male section and Ami Wright Hamilton won the female version.


In the male veterans seb Coe from Shikon had a somewhat contentious win. Over jacek lipinski from school of masters but there was no doubt about the winner of the female veterans with lynn Aston from Shikon taking gold in fine form.


What a fantastic day of competition. The first aiders complained bitterly about having nothing to do. The venue was superb.

Next year we have plans to make the event even better. It's scheduled for 1st July 2012 so put that date in your diary.

Many thanks to all the officials that so made the day fly by and run to time.special congratulations to Sonia Powell for her referee of the day award from Mr Columba.

 

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4th WUKF WORLD SENIOR AND VETERAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

The Karate England National squad travelled to Lignano, Italy for the 2011 World Senior/Veterans Championships with nearly 50 people. With coaches Abdu Shaher, Ian Cuthbert, Glen Middleton, Julia Heenan, John Anderson and Phil Jones, officials Sonia Powell and Geoff Marks, a squad of 26 athletes and numerous supporters.


The venue was the Olympic village in Lignano, an impressive complex of swimming pools , sports halls and hotel blocks situated as close to the beach as you could possibly get.

With the coaches and officials arriving early for the two day refereeing/coaching seminar there was time to look around, admire the superb sport hall, find restaurants and take brief trips to Venice some 70k away.

Having attended some 35 European and World Championships (WUKF, WUKO and WKF) over the last 25 years I would have to say that if you took into account all aspects, venue, location, presentation, organisation and above all standard of competitors, it was up there with the very best.

The first day was individual kata and veterans kata and kumite, followed by male and female team rotation (both Ippon and Sanbon). Just to clarify, athletes can be entered into shobu sanbon individual or Ippon individual but not both. They can also enter ippon or sanbon team events but not both.

Karate England had teams in both male ippon/rotation and sanbon/rotation events but only female sanbon/rotation.

In the veterans sections the men's events had 3 different age sections (35-40, 40-45 and over 45 years) and all three section were very busy. So busy in fact that at the Presidents Congress it was agreed to add a fourth section for over 50 yrs such is the interest in male Veterans.

In the female veterans Karate England had several competitors but it was Patience Kakitie from Phil Patrick s club in Oxford that kicked off the weekend with a bronze in both the kumite and the shito ryu kata events.


In the afternoon in the senior team rotation events the men's Ippon team Jason Marquis, Nick Karanicholas and Iain Hedges battled through to win a bronze losing to Poland in the semi final.

The men's sanbon team ( Leon Martin, John Anderson and Dan Cuthbert ) were less fortunate and went out to Brazil in the first round in the sanbon rotation. Still we did have 3 medals from the first day.

On the Saturday we saw Individual kumite on all 8 tatamis and Karate England had 9 people make various quarter final but only two went through to take a medal. John Anderson in the men's U80k sanbon losing to the Ukrainian World Champion in the semi final and Nick Karanicholas in the men's U70k sanbon narrowly going down to the Romanian.


The ladies team of Ashley Ogbekene, Kerry McCormack, Laura Wheeler and Lindsay Turnbull having lost in the previous days rotation event did much better in the sanbon narrowly losing to the Romanian 1st team in their semi final.


The Men's Ippon team had another good day reaching the final of the men's Ippon team event. Lee Willis had come into the team with Jason and Nick and the three of them had stormed through all their rounds to face Hungary in the final the next day.


Both the first and second days had finished about 4 pm so this left time to relax on the beach, talk to old friends from other countries or just catch up on sleep. It's a credit to the organisers that with so many countries and competitors that they were able to use all 8 tatamis almost continuously throughout the day.

There is one thing about WUKF events, and everyone that has come to them has commented on this is its 'friendly' atmosphere. From the President Mr Osvaldo Messias, the chief referee Mr Sever Cucu, the organising committee, the other coaches and athletes right down to the table officials. There is an all pervading feeling of family and friendship which I for one never experienced in the WKF or indeed in the EKGB.

Although there were countries from all over the world and all continents, whether it was a coach from Romania, a president from South Africa, a referee from Argentina or a fighter from Russia they were interested in others and always willing to talk or at least try.

On the finals day we had the privilege of the company of probably the most famous ever kumite champion Mr. Victor Charles M.B.E. who enjoyed the day immensely and on being introduced to the WUKF president, commented on the high standard of the finalists. High praise from one of Karates few real legends.


The one final that Karate England was involved in was the men's ippon team event. Jason Marquis, Nick Karanicholas and Lee Willis took to the mat to face a much more experienced and Ippon specialists Hungary. Jason went into a 1-0 lead but his opponent pegged it back and the bout ended 1-1. Nick took his fight straight to his much bigger opponent and scored wazari, a flurry of punches led to an equalizing score for the Hungarian but Nick attacked again and took the fight 2-1. This led to Lee looking for a draw or any win to take the match for England. He had scored effortlessly the previous day in the earlier rounds with jodan kicks but the taller Hungarian suddenly attacked over Lee's guard landing a head punch which was awarded Ippon leaving the England team to rue what might have been. Silver!

The total medal haul for the England squad was 1 silver and 6 bronze.

2nd Ippon team and 3rd team rotation

Men's ippon team - Jason Marquis, Nick Karanicholas, Lee Willis and Iain Hedges.

3rd sanbon team

Ladies sanbon team - Ashley Ogbekene, Laura Wheeler, Kerry McCormack and Lindsay Turnbull.

3rd Men's U70k

Nick Karanicholas

3rd Men's U80k

John Anderson

3rd Ladies veterans kumite and shito ryu veterans kata.

Patience Kakitie

The coaching staff were a little disappointed not to have had at least one gold but as head coach Abdu Shaher said 'the standard was very high and we are still relative newcomers to this level'.

Let's look forward to the European Cup in Cluj, Romania in September and the European Juniors in Hungary in October. Also good to hear that next year's Senior Europeans will be in Scotland so well done to our Scottish colleagues for getting govt funding for that.

We also have the Shikon International on the 3rd July at Harlow, we have several Irish squads coming and a large Romanian squad, and there will be an international match between those three countries on the day.

 

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KARATE SPORT ENGLAND OPEN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

Yet another successful event at the Loughborough Leisure Centre, thanks go to all the staff members at the centre, and of course to Abdu Shah, Vic Charles, Ian Cuthbert, Trisha Jordan and all the other KSE members that ensured the smooth running of the day.

The previous day had seen the inaugural coaches meeting for KSE with a view of constructing an effective coaching programme with progressive levels and external modules . The meeting went very well and we look forward to the outcome over the next twelve months.

The standard at the competition continues to rise and it was a pleasant surprise to have old friend Malcolm Phipps around with his excellent Seishinkai squad.

The kata events being as usual split into the main styles led to Shikon taking the golds in the childrens Shito ryu sections, with Seishinkai leading the way in the Shotokan categories and Seishan karate topping the wado ryu sections.

In the senior events Ryan Derbyshire from SSK took the mens Shito ryu and the Open section, Zachary Alexander from BKO managed to squeeze past the strong Seishinkai contingent to take gold in the mens Shotokan. In the female sections Toni York from Seishinkai took the Shotokan and Lizzie Jeffries from Shikon Oxford the Ladies Open.



As the kata events progress it would be great to see some more Goju ryu practitioners in order that we could see a Goju section in operation. It makes so much more sense having sections for different styles, and with excellent judging from the KSE and FEKO officials the `best man` seems to have won each time.

In the kumite the action was `fast and furious` from the off! The success of the ranking lists encourages more and more cadets and seniors to try their hand and the lists keep growing.

Impossible to speak about all the winners but we must mention the team rotation events. With out a doubt the highlight yet again of the day.

As usual Shikon battled it out again in the cadet events but Jeff Bottomleys Seidokan team is looking to break that hold, so watch out.

Shikon East with Dan Cuthbert, Leon Martin and Jason Marquis managed to get revenge on John Anderson's Kyoji Kai for their recent defeats at the AMA and British Open but it was as close as you can get and everyone is looking forward to their next clash.



Notable wins in the cadet /senior events saw John Anderson take Gold over Leon Martin in the O80k section, the feud between these two top class fighters goes on and on.



One of the best fights of the day was the mens U60k final between Lee Willis and Nick Karanicholas, the score went this way and that with Nick taking an early lead but unable to sustain it Lee eventually came out the clear victor.



Dan Cuthbert lost to Dan Brown by an unfortunate disqualification in the final of the mens U80k but Dan C did go on to win the mens shobu Ippon later in the day. Dan Brown thankfully made a full recovery.



Laura Wheeler from Kyoji kai took the female junior and the female senior O60k leaving Kerry McCormack taking gold in the U60 section and Ashley Ogbekene gold in the shobu Ippon.



In the heavyweight cadets Charlie Collins had his usual excellent battle with Greg Gentleman whilst in the lighter weight sections Ben Turner and Sam Hulbert continued to show excellent form.



In the U55k female cadets Dani Lester from Shikon Oxford managed to squeeze past Maddie Moore from Dudley Shukokai to take the gold and in the heavyweight section current European Champion Shauna Carroll won her final 6-5.

In the veterans Della Tudisca continues her run of form taking gold in the female event and newcomer Seb Coe saw off old hand Rob Ward in the mens vets. Knowing Rob he ll be looking forward to a rematch asap.

The senior/veterans squad look forward to Lignano at the end of May and the WUKF World Senior /veterans Championships. It looks like being their biggest Senior event ever at this amazing venue.

The Karate England squad will be staying at the Olympic style athletes village and look forward to a successful trip. They have some 37 people attending including athletes, coaches, officials and spectators. Good luck guys!!

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UKF INVITATION - DONEGAL R.I.

Only a small squad of competitors travelled this year to Burnfoot, Donegal in Rep. of Ireland , usually the competition run by Sensei Columba McCloughlin and the Ulster Karate Federation attracts a fairly large contingent from Shikon but this year it was only one week before the Karate Sport England Open Nationals and most people felt that the events were too close for comfort.

Nevertheless Shikon Coach Ian Cuthbert took five of his own club fighters to support the event and it was good to hook up with old friends like Dave Brashaw, Patsy Whelan and Joe Smith.

The Shikon squad consisted of Charlie Collins (WUKF World cadet champion), Shauna Carroll (WUKF European cadet champion), Jamie Carroll (WUKF European Cup champion ) and Liam Powell (English Champion), along with these four went a young brown belt Mairead Ladbrooke on her first trip away from the Shikon fight factory. A small squad, but more than competent.

Not only was the event attended by large numbers of both Republic and Northern Ireland teams there were also squads from Romania, Hungary and England (including Barry Nash`s Heian Ryu).

Also present were the General Secretary of the WUKF Mr Liviu Crisan and the WUKF World Chief Referee Mr Sever Cucu.

In the kata Liam and Charlie both won their age sections and Mairead took bronze in the 10-11 girls.



In the kumite Mairead, despite being the smallest in her category, battled past an array of bigger girls to win gold, and this on her first International trip.

Old hands Jamie Carroll and Liam Powell both competed in the 13-14 boys section, they eventually met in the final with Jamie coming out on top with a cagey 1-0 victory.



Shauna Carroll coming back from injury looked like her old self, demolishing the opposition in the female cadet section with a varied and very confident repertoire of techniques.



Charlie Collins took the mat in the male cadet and almost repeated this feat, looking every inch the World Champion that he is, unfortunately in the final whilst leading 3-0 against the Hungarian he made excessive contact and was quite rightly disqualified, so had to settle for silver.



In the teams Charlie, Shauna and Jamie took Gold in the cadet mixed team whilst Charlie, Liam and Jamie also took gold in the male cadet team rotation.

It was interesting watching the Romanian National senior team attending as a warm up for the forthcoming WUKF World Senior Championships in Lignano, Italy. They dominated the senior kumite events with an entertaining display of excellent footwork from the Christophe Pinna system. They looked very sharp and confident and will undoubtedly provide some superb opposition to our own National team next month.

Total medal haul was 7 Gold 2 Silver and 3 Bronze. Well done to all of the squad and also to Sonia Powell who officiated as our resident Karate Sport England referee.

 

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BLACK BELT GRADING EASTER 2011

Congratulations to Ravi Patel and Tito Falase for passing their 1st Dan grading on Thursday 21st April. It was great to see the pair persevere right to the very end, and after 9 years of dedicated training, both Ravi and Tito completed their grading to an excellent standard.

Thank you to all the instructors who came to support them, and dare I say, "rough them up a bit" !!

 

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BRITISH INTERNATIONAL OPEN 2011

The British Open is an Institution of the Karate Competition Circuit and never fails to deliver the goods.

This year saw competitors from England, Scotland, Rep of Ireland, Romania, Italy, France and Germany. Interesting to see squads from Shikon, AMA, FEKO, BKO, Kyoji Kai (formerly Kaizen) and KUGB on the mats facing each other again. Good to see !

The British squads naturally dominated but the Continental athletes certainly made their mark.

The Kata events were eventful with Hollie Roberts (Shikon) and Jack Dixon, Lee Lamb (AMA) both successfully doubling up and taking medals in both style and open events.

Team golds went to Shikon and AMA in the junior and senior categories respectively.

The kumite saw the usual quality in the junior events but the mens individuals and teams were quite exceptional, both in numbers and quality.

In the final of the mens U65k Stephan Rewohl (Germany , Halle Karate) beat Alex Shaher (Sokudo) , Under 75k Dan Cuthbert (Shikon ) beat fellow team mate Phil Patrick and in the heavy weights Gareth West (AMA) narrowly beat John Anderson (Kyoji Kai) with Gareth going on to take the Open weight section as well.

The male cadet saw Shikon take both gold in the light weight and heavyweight section with Sam Hulbert and Charlie Collins respectively .

Female cadet saw Dani Lester (Shikon) win the light weight and Laura Wheeler (kyoji Kai) take the heavyweight event with an excellent display of skill and determination.

Senior females were a little quiet but Timea Szasz (CSK Zanshin) dominated the U60k with Italian Claudia Alteri (Karate Carzola ) winning the O60k.Kerry McCormack (Shikon)took the Ladies Open beating old rival Helen Hibberd (FEKO ) in the final.

Notable wins in the childrens sections were Aaliyah Fadare in the girls 10-12 O45k. A double for the Hulbert family with Amy taking the 10-12 U45k.

Liam Powel (shikon) impressing yet again in the boys 13-14 O55k , another Gold on his mantelpiece.

Sophie Bottcher (Germany Halle Karate) won the girls 13-14 U50k and one of my favourite fighters Anna James Bott (shikon) yet again came up with the goods in the girls 13-14 O50k.

The veterans saw Eamonn Yore (Kells Karate) take out the opposition in the mens event and Patience Kakitie (Shikon) add another gold to the one she won at last years English in the ladies.

For me the Mens teams were the highlight of the day with the male cadets coming a close second.

In the cadets the strong Shikon team beat allcomers in both sanbon and rotation including a very good Carzola team from Italy.

The mens team finals saw Shikon East beat Kyoji Kai in the sanbon event. John Anderson comfortably beat Dan Cuthbert in the first fight but Shikon recovered with wins from Jason Marquis and Phil Patrick over Carl Smith and Ian Hedges.

In the rotation Kyoji kai took revenge with a 6-5 win over the Shikon team in an excellent and entertaining match. Well done to both teams. The standard in the mens team events was such that the Carzola team from Italy led by Current WUKF World Junior champion Davide Milletti failed to get a medal in either event.

This the first ranking event of the year saw some people move up their respective ranking lists and others move down or even disappear from theirs.

Check out the current lists and lets look forward to the next ranking event the Karate Sport England Open Championships in Loughborough on Sun 17th April.

ALL WELCOME !!!!

 

 

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