BIKO Championships 2010

Joe Munro was our only competitor at these championships and his decision to attend was in the main due to the fact that he was already in London. The previous day was the English Karate Federation's latest squad training session and Joe had been there with Ashleigh Clarkson and Jessica Newton. Their plans of returning home on the same day prevented them from competing, but their arrangements were spoilt by a late finish at the session. As things turned out, they would have been able to take part as a Sunday train home was their only option.

The competition was Joe's first opportunity to compete in Kata divisions with scorecards, instead of flags. The basic principal is that all competitors perform once, where they are scored at the end of their performances. Following the Kata performance of the last competitor, all scores are added with the top eight competitors being asked to compete in a final.

Joe decided to perform Niseishi in the first round. This Kata has been practiced recently with Harry Oetegenn and Joe Rose, with a view to using it for team events. On this occasion Joe had made a good choice, because his performance was better than he had displayed in the club. This saw him comfortably into the final, with the other competitors who impressed the judges.

His choice of Kata for the final was Bassai. This was to be another good decision because following everyone's performances, Joe was judged to have given the second best performance overall. This meant of course that he had won himself a silver medal!

Unfortunately he was unable to repeat his earlier success in the Kumite divisions. This despite a thrilling bout which saw him claw back a 6-2 deficit to 6-6 forcing a Sai-Shiai (Extra Time) bout. This was equally nail biting, with Joe's passion for success being exuded with every technique he threw. His efforts to secure a lead were intense but unfortunately unsuccessful. This was to be the end of Joe's attempts at Kumite success for this event.

It turned out to be a good weekend overall for Joe, a good set of Kumite results at the squad session the previous day and a silver medal at the Kata divisions at this competition should be enough to sustain his passion for success a while longer.

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