Northern Open Classic 2011

Six members of Wado UK took part in the Northern Open Classic on the 11th September and between them they brought home a total of four gold and one silver medal. Gold medals going to Thomas Balaam-Reed in Kata and Kumite, Brandon Greenwood in the Kata and Joe Munro also in the Kumite. The silver medal going to Harry Oetegenn in a thrilling battle with Joe in their Kumite final.

Kata

First to take to the mats was Brandon Greenwood, Thomas Balaam-Reed, Alfie Goff and Matthew March in their respective Kata divisions. Brandon showed great maturity in his performances and as a result secured the first gold medal of the day. Brandon has a good overall Kata when he performs, showing good speed, timing and strength for his age. It is easy to imagine him doing well in the future. Thomas was to keep the ball rolling with further gold medal performances in his Kata category. Thomas too looked sharp and polished and he also breezed the rounds and found himself in the final. Following the final Thomas had added the second gold medal of the day.
Unfortunately Matthew March was to go out early to the eventual winner. This competition had no repechage system which would have afforded Matthew the opportunity of challenging for the bronze medal at the Nationals. Never the less Matthew up to the point of the decision was pleased with his performance, which is at least a positive result for his training.
Alfie was to suffer the same fate to that of Matthew, but at such a young age his day of success will come. That was the end of the Kata performances for our competitors, Kumite was the order of the day from here on.

Kumite

The Kumite categories were to prove equally as fruitful. Gold medals were to find their way around the necks of Thomas and Joe Munro, with a silver hanging off Harry Oetegenn by the time the day was over. Thomas by now having two gold medals for his efforts following excellent performances.

Joe Munro and Harry Oetegenn were to dominate their 13-15yr division, removing all but each other on their way to the final. This was a large group with each of them having four fights by the time they had finished. The final was to prove a tight tense affair with neither Joe nor Harry giving ground to the other. By the time the bout was over the scores were all equal and the additional Sai-Shai was needed to separate the pair. This however was to prove equally indecisive meaning the refereeing panel had to give their votes as to who they considered the winner. This resulted in a 2-1 vote in favour of Joe in what was a very close fought bout which both boys should be proud of.

Kumite competitors who unfortunately fell short of the medals were Brandon Greenwood, Alfie Goff and Jonathan Chia.

Well done to all those who took part!!

 

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