British Karate Federation International Open 2010

Over the weekend of 10th/11th July 2010, six Wado UK competitors entered the British International Open Karate Championships in Glasgow. Barry Meanwell and Joe Munro from the Woodford Dojo, Jessica Newton, Ashleigh Clarkson and Matthew March from the ShinKen Dojo and Jessica Bates from the St Nicholas Dojo.

Jessica Bates was to bring home the best medal of the weekend, with a well earned silver in her individual weight category. Setting off for Glasgow around 3.30am didn't seem to bother her too much, when she was called to the mat she got straight down to business progressing through the rounds. Jessica looked sharp and managed to secure her place in the final with techniques such as those pictured below. Her opponent in the final was not quite so easy to brush aside however and by the time the match ended the points were in favor of Jess's opponent. A good performance however and another medal to Jessica's collection. Well done Jess!

Saturday was the day for the 14 yrs and above age groups. The first of our group to compete was Matthew in the Kata competition. Matthew has a keen interest in Kata and competing in these divisions is a natural progression. He was to find today tough though, meeting one of the eventual semi-finalists and falling at this juncture.

Jessica Newton was also to struggle impressing the judges, getting techniques into scoring areas seemed not to convince the judges they merited any reward and by the end of her bout had been nudged from the competition.

Ashleigh was next on the mats and did have some success. having made her way to the semi-final, she picked up a foot injury and lost the bout. At this stage and because of the injury being attended to, she was unable to attend the medal ceremony to receive her bronze medal. However it was another medal toward the weekend's tally. Well done Ashleigh.

Barry was the last competitor for Wado UK on the Saturday. He got off to a flying start winning his opening bout with ease and booking himself a place in the second round. Unfortunately he was to meet one of the Egyptian National Squad for this next match and he proved a tricky customer. Spinning around with ushiro-mawashigeri and missing Barry's head, Barry lunged in for a gyakuzuki counter, only to see his opponent switch the kick into a conventional mawashigeri. This was enough to catch Barry out and secure a lead. This lead was to be maintained throughout the bout and was therefore enough to remove Barry from the competition.

Sunday was to see all those aged 13 and under compete for their International honors. As mentioned earlier Jessica Bates was to take a deserved silver medal for her efforts and Joe was hoping to add more medals in his categories. Joe was in two divisions, his own weight group and the open weight too. Getting off to a good start, Joe began piling on the points and giving nothing away, making things difficult for his opponents. He managed several wins in what were two very large groups, but unfortunately lady luck was not on his side today. He fought really well but was to see his valiant efforts leave him just short of the medals, as he was dispatched in both quarter finals. One more win would have seen him on the podium but alas it was not to be.

Thank You to Paul Braid and Allison Munro for coaching over the weekend and a big thank you to all those who invested time and money into the event.

Attention now turns to the South Yorkshire Open on the 1st August. Most of the above will be in action and several others too.

 

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