Hartlepool Wado Kai Karate Championships 2013

Two Wado UK clubs competed at the 2013 edition of the Hartlepool Wado Kai Championships, East Hull Woodford, and Hull Zanshin. The day was a tremendous success, with the amalgamated group of 9 competitors winning a total of 14 medals. The tally contained 6 gold, 5 Silver, and 3 Bronze. This excellent tally meant that our small but capable group finished in the runners up position in the overall table for the day.

The small squad is seen below from L-R
Josh Hartery, Ellis Miller, Joe Rose, Amrit Dhesi, Charan Dhesi, Charlotte Pinder, Teerth Dhesi and Oliver Dearing. Tony Dent and Joe Munro are stood to the rear.

Kata

The pairs Kata were the first medals to be contested, and within this group we had three opportunities to achieve success. The pairings for Wado UK were made up of Amrit Dhesi & Ellis Miller, Oliver Dearing & Charlotte Pinder, and finally Teerth & Charan Dhesi. The final pairing of Teerth and Charon would be the duo to medal on this occasion, managing to reach the final against a pair from Dokan Karate. The result was a Dokan win, but our first medal on the board, a silver.

This medal success would soon be followed by a bronze medal in the team kata. Our trio of kata competitors for this category was our regular grouping of Oliver, Teerth and Charlotte. Again reaching the rounds for medals they were ousted by a group of able competitors from Dokan Karate once again. A bronze reward was still a pleasing result, and it also kept our tally for the day increasing steadily.

The individual kata sections saw all of our younger competitors in action again. These categories were rather large due to the amount of youngsters at the competition, but we still managed 2 gold, 1 silver and a bronze by the time we had finished. Our gold medal successes would be down to the efforts of Amrit Dhesi and Ellis Miller. In their respective groupings they plugged away until the opposition had been reduced to just one, meaning of course they had reached their finals. Success for each of them secured their golden rewards, and helped to drive our squad up the medal table.
This clearly wasn't the end of the story though, as we mentioned two further medals above. Oliver would get the better of these, as he also managed to reach his final, although he was on the wrong side of the judges decision losing out 1-2. It was never the less a great result for Oliver. Josh Hartery would finish things off in the Kata sections. He was our stalwart hanging in there for a podium finish. Although still relatively inexperienced, Josh battled his way to the semi's before he was dispatched. Our final kata medal and Josh's first then was to be the bronze. Well done to the Kata competitors for another great set of results.

Kumite

The kumite categories would start with the Kick-Master event, within which we had three competitors. Charan and Amrit Dhesi, along with Ellis Miller. Charan would prove to be the queen of this event by its conclusion, being that she had swept all aside and stood proud with the gold medal adorning her neck at the presentation. Well done Charan!

The majority of our remaining medals were to be in the individual categories. In the main it is difficult for us to assemble teams, as the majority of our regular competitors are of different ages and genders. Matching them up is quite often not possible because of the way the categories are offered. However we did have one team competing on the day. This group was assembled with Joe Rose, Oliver Dearing, Teerth Dhesi and a reserve of Josh Hartery. The team didn't let us down as they got straight down to business knocking out a team from Hartlepool Wado Kai by two clear matches. This secured them a semi-final slot against Yamakai. This was always going to be a tough match, as the Scottish Yamakai group lead by Jim Ross is a very talented outfit. Joe was up first and managed to slip into an early lead, however that didn't tell the whole story, as his opponent was a difficult customer. It was a nip and tuck affair which could have gone either way, and this proved to be the case because right at the end Joe succumbed to a body kick which left him in arrears 1-2. Still, with Oliver and Teerth still to fight there was all to play for. Oliver was next onto the tatami, and was well aware of the need for a win. Slipping behind initially, he managed to compose himself and level things up to give himself a fighting chance. Plugging away he himself scored with a body kick, giving himself and the team the overall lead on the scoreboard. The match finished with the scores in this position, 3-1. This left our trio with a one point advantage overall, meaning a win or a draw from Teerth would see us in the final.
Teerth got down to business straight away, but looked under pressure to a degree. Against the run of play though, he managed a yuko giving him the lead and our team a greater advantage. Unfortunately history repeated itself, and Teerth also succumbed to a body kick right at the end of the match meaning it finished 1-2 against him. With two wins to our one it meant we were the bronze medallists and Yamakai went through to the final.
It was a good performance from our team, but it was also a lesson of how tactical advantage can be turned on its head and provide you with nothing.

Our individual competitors would finish things off on the medal front, winning a further 3 gold medals and 3 silvers.
The gold medals would go to Charlotte Pinder, Joe Rose and finally Joe Munro. Joe Munro having to wait till the end of the day for his turn to compete, being the oldest of our group in attendance. A pleasing result for him and good to see him back in the medals.
Joe Rose won his gold in the section containing team-mates Oliver Dearing and Josh Hartery. Joe battled away in what was a hotly contested division, coincidentally containing several Yamakai competitors also. This didn't phase Joe though, as he just kept beavering away until he was in the final. The final was an excellent match for Wado UK, as he was shadowed through the rounds match for match by Oliver Dearing. Oliver also managing to cast all aside who stood to oppose him. The same story for Oliver then meant that the final would be an all Wado UK affair.
It turned out to be a very close match, with neither competitor giving much ground to the other. When an advantage did come it was in favour of Joe who managed to get a Yuko on the scoreboard. This didn't deter Oliver though as he kept the pressure on Joe. Right at the end of the match Oliver attacked forcing Joe into a very dangerous position near the tatami perimeter, and with Joe leaning backwards and simultaneously taking a punch to the head it was a short wait to see the judges verdict. They saw it as a contact violation by Oliver for the head contact, although my opinion was that of Mubobi on Joe's part. However this didn't change the score and the win went to Joe Rose, with Oliver taking it to the wire and winning a very respectable silver for his efforts. The story could have been very different if Oliver's attack had not made contact of course. A score instead would have evened things up and a panel Hantei would have left it to the judges to decide the winner. Let this be a lesson boys, it isn't over till it's over as the saying goes. Every second counts.
Incidentally Josh also managed two wins in this division, but just went out before the medal stages. You should still be happy though Josh, and more experience will see you in the medals soon.
The other Gold mentioned then was for Charlotte. Charlotte managed to replicate the achievements of Joe and Oliver, as she knocked all of her opponents out of the competition in style. Not once did she concede a point throughout her matches, yet managed to win them all with several points in her favour. An excellent result for Charlotte then, and one she should be proud of.

The silver medallists were obviously Oliver mentioned above already, but also Amrit and Ellis. These boys in the younger categories also managed to battle through the rounds, securing themselves finals. They clearly being silver medallists didn't manage to repeat the successes of those mentioned above, but never the less gave a good account of themselves on each occasion. The fact that they were in the finals was an extremely pleasing result, and one which is becoming more common. They have both recently won gold in kumite so surely more gold medals are just around the corner?

An excellent day for our squad so well done all of you. Thanks must be extended to our intrepid parents who not only made the lengthy trip up to Hartlepool, but who also had to navigate blizzard conditions on the return journey. Thank you for the effort!

Photo Gallery to follow soon

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