British Karate Federation 2008

British Karate Federation 2008The Wado UK Karate squad recently entered the British Karate Federations Karate championships at the Ponds Forge sports centre in Sheffield. This competition is the most prestigious event in the English and British Karate calendar, with the representatives of National squads coming from all over Great Britain.
The competition was held over two days and was for Karate-Ka from as young as 7 yrs old, through to and including the ‘over 35's veteran event!

Two students from the St Nicholas Karate Club did particularly well, 8 year old Jessica Bates and 18 year old Laura Beech, both securing medals. Both students were competing at this level for the first time and were able to settle the nerves to give a good account of themselves.

The skill level of this competition is of the highest calibre, with many National and International competitors competing over the course of the weekend. This didn’t faze the St Nicholas pair as they began their events.

First up on the Saturday was Jessica Bates who was entered in the ‘Under 9 yrs Kumite section’. When she arrived at the area she faced some experienced opposition, even at this young age. This was of no concern to Jessica as she fought her way through to the final with skill and precision. In the final she was up against the favourite, a young lady named Chloe Fry. Chloe is the current Welsh Open Champion, Commonwealth Champion and also has several regional successes to her name. None of this was to concern Jessica either as she just got on with the task in hand, taking the fight to Chloe and forcing the bout into an Encho-Sen situation. Jessica sealed a victory with a perfectly executed ‘reverse punch’ to clinch the gold medal position.

The second success came on the Sunday when Laura Beech entered the ladies 18 yrs to 21 yrs Kumite section, Laura has not competed for almost a year due to work commitments but gave an excellent account of herself. Unfortunately Laura was beaten in a hard fought bout by the eventual winner of the section. This gave Laura the chance to fight in the repechage, It was from here Laura gave her best performances of the day. Laura put the disappointment of the earlier bout behind her and proceeded to fight her way to the Bronze medal position.

Well done to both girls!

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