Shuhari-Kai's Latest on     Your First Karate lesson is just One Click away... Click HERE

For further information email us at info@shuharikai.co.uk

or call Chief Instructor Richard Burridge on 01708 737125 or 07850 253998

Copyright (C) by Shuhari-Kai Karate Club 2003-2009

      

Wonderful Weekend for Shuhari-Kai Squad. What a busy yet profitable weekend for the Shuhari-Kai Karate Club Squad who took part in the USK International Invitational Championships on Saturday 18th October followed by the Danson Open on Sunday 19th October and came away with 14 medals for the weekend's work.     USK Invitational Championships Our largest squad for a while turned out for this local competition held on Saturday 18th October at the Hornchurch Sports Centre, Harrow Lodge. The Kata events started first and all initial Kata rounds were scored on a points system with the top eight  going through to the knock-out stages. Jodie Miles, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell were all competing in the same under 12 years 3rd Kyu and above category. After the initial round, all three squad members secured high enough points to proceed into the final knockout stages. After performing Seienchin Kata, Jodie (11 Yrs) performed Bassai-Dai and received all three flags from the judges to proceed into the semi finals. Alex (11 Yrs) performed Seienchin Kata in the quarter final knockout round after his initial performance of Jion Kata. Like Jodie, he received all three judges flags to make the semi finals. Aimee (8 Yrs) performed Pinan Yodan Kata after her initial Seienchin Kata but unfortunately she lost the judges decision by all three flags. The semi finals saw Alex lose 2 flags to 1 after his Bassai-Dai Kata was pipped by his opponent but Jodie's rendition of Kushanku scored all three flags once again taking her into the finals. Jodie saved her hardest Kata to last and it worked well as she received all three flags from the judges for her Seipai Kata to take Gold. The rest of the squad, save for Sophie Roberts, all failed to make the last eight in their respective categories although some just missed out on the last eight. Sophie (12 Yrs) on the other hand, competing in the 3rd Kyu and above, U16 yrs category, was up against the elite competitors and did extremely well to make the last eight after her performance of Seienchin Kata. In the quarter finals, Sophie's performance of Kushanku Kata failed to see her through to the next round as she lost out to the eventual category winner in this unlucky draw for her.     The Kumite events proved fruitful too as Alex Sell took Silver in his U40KG event. Alex came through three rounds to meet local boy Robert Clark (Ishinryu) in the final. Unfortunately, Alex was 4 points to 2 down in the final stages but try as he might, couldn't quite land a scoring technique to pull back the deficit. JJ. Burridge also came through three bruising rounds to fail at the final hurdle. After outwitting and counter-punching his bigger and taller opponents in the earlier rounds, JJ couldn't pull off another upset and succumbed to a 5 points to 3 loss settling for a Silver medal against the odds. Well done JJ. Three Bronze medals were secured by Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts and Abigail Gee in the girls U40KG, U45KG and U50KG events respectively but some of the best performances went to the younger squad members. Vishaal Dovedi (9yrs) and Aimee Sell (8yrs) both made it through three rounds only to be eliminated in the quarter finals. Both fighters overcame some tough opponents, especially tiny Aimee, and showed great potential, but as this category was particularly large, they both came away empty handed after all their hard work. Also fighting in the same category was Dominic Constantini, Jordan Hodges and Alan Reilly. While both Dominic and Jordan were early casualties after narrowly missing out on some scoring points, Alan performed particularly well in his first ever competition as he made it to the third round before being eliminated. All these competitors performed well and it's only a matter of time before they'll be on top of the podium.    The day ended with 1 Gold, 2 Silvers and 4 Bronzes. That shows what an improvement has been made in a year as the squad came away with team Gold and an individual Bronze at last years championships. Unfortunately there was no team Kumite this time round for them to defend.     Click HERE to view the USK Photo Gallery.      Squad: JJ. Burridge, Dominic Constantini, Vishaal Dovedi, Abigail Gee, Sam Gee, Jordan Hodges, Jodie Miles, Alan Reilly, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell.

Danson Open A smaller squad of six took part in the Danson Open held in Bexleyheath, Kent on Sunday 19th October. After their exploits the previous day, they were looking to go one better and improve on their medal haul, which they did to great effect. With the Kata event being held first, Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell were competing in the same 3rd to 1st Kyu event with Sam Gee competing in the 6th to 4th Kyu event. The Katas were being judged in an initial scoring round with only the top four competitors proceeding to the knockout stages. Sam Gee performing Pinan Yodan Kata failed to make the final four, as did Aimee and Sophie who both performed Seienchin Kata. Alex performed Chatanyara Kushanku Kata scoring 7.5, 7.3 & 7.2 totalling 22.0 leaving him in third position after all of the 41 competitors had been marked. Jodie too made the last four by scoring 7.5, 7.2 & 7.1 totalling 21.8 for her performance of Seienchin Kata. This left her in fourth place just ahead of the rest of the competition. Alex and Jodie were unfortunately drawn against each other in the knockout semi finals stages which were being judged using the the three flags system. Alex up first performed Seienchin Kata whilst Jodie chose to perform Seipai Kata. The judges scored 2 flags to 1 in Alex's favour resulting in Jodie settling for Bronze. In the final, Alex was up second and chose to perform Chatanyara Kushanku Kata which to his delight scored all three judges flags making him 3rd-1st Kyu Danson Open Champion for the second consecutive time.      The 3rd Kyu to Black Belt team Kata finals were delayed by 10 minutes as the final team to be marked by the judges were our very own Shuhari-Kai team who were not ready. This was due to the fact that two of the team (Jodie Miles and Alex Sell) had to stay and compete in their Kata event finals. After collecting their individual trophies, they ran to join team member Sophie Roberts to finally perform their Kata - Seienchin. This event was only judged on one round of Kata being marked with the highest score winning, and would you believe it, the wait had been worth it as they achieved a score of 21.6 taking them into top spot by 0.2 points and thereby notching up another Gold for the squad.     The Kumite saw Alex Sell up first who breezed through his first two fights in the Boys U40KG event. The semi final bout was a harder affair as Alex took a few blows but managed to narrowly beat his competitor to make the finals. The finals were not a pretty site as Alex was continually caught with low kicks and some uncontrolled aggression from his competitor, but Alex gave as good as he got and with both competitors giving away penalty points there seemed few scoring opportunities. But current U40KG English champion, Alex, showed why he was the best as he snapped in a few scoring techniques to take the win in the dying seconds. A great performance from Alex which had achieved the magnificent feat of tripple Gold. Aimee Sell was up next in the mixed U25KG event and showed how much she's improved as she came back from a 5 point deficit in her first round fight to win 6-5. She battled her way through her next fight into the semi finals and after doing all the work and showing all the aggression, finally succumbed to a more experienced opponent. Aimee had still secured a Bronze medal position and this was a great feat as she was the only girl in the category. Jodie Miles followed Aimee's feat of gaining Bronze after failing to progress further than the semi finals. In a close match, Jodie had her confidence knocked as she suffered a blow to her nose but came back well only to be pipped 4 points to 3. Abigail Gee failed to bring home a medal after her first round knockout in the Girls U50KG event. She took the fight to her opponent but her punches were being judged second to her opponents punches and made an early exit. She did well and has leant an important lesson in speed and timing. Last up from the squad was Sophie Roberts and being last up she went out with a bang. Sophie, competing in the Girls U45KG event showed the speed of her Gyakuzuki punches as she made her way to finals after some close calls. In the final, she battled her way trough this tough encounter as the points swung one way then another. She finally came out on top winning 7 points to 4.    To recap, what a performance from just six competitors, 3 individual Golds, 1 team Gold and 3 Bronzes with Alex gaining his first ever tripple Gold. With 7 medals from Saturday's USK competition and 7 medals from Sunday's Danson Open competition, this will sure be a hard act to follow.      Squad: Abigail Gee, Sam Gee, Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell.

 

For further information email us at info@shuharikai.co.uk or call Chief Instructor Richard Burridge on 01708 737125 or 07850 253998   Copyright (C) by Shuhari-Kai Karate Club 2003-2009