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

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

       

East of England Open Karate Championships      The East of England Open proved successful the Shuhari-Kai squad as 3 Golds, and 2 Silvers were secured on the day with Jodie Miles picking up double Gold.     A squad of 6 travelled to St. Joseph’s College in Ipswich, on Sunday 14th March to compete in this EKKA hosted competition. With four mats laid out it was obvious there would be a large turn-out, it’s just a shame that for the majority of the time, only two were being used at any one time. The competition itself was far removed from WKF rules with a single soldiery score card round for Kata. The Kumite failed to escape the adaptations with any coloured belts and mitts allowed, no flags with just one shadow judge per mat, and the first to 6 points wins. Not sure if the competitors found it tougher than the spectators due to the limited seating.      The first events underway were the Kata events. Luke Bannister, competing in the mixed under 15yrs, 6th-4th Kyu category, received 6.6, 6.8 & 6.7 totalling 20.1 for his performance of Pinan Sandan. Luke was unable repeat his previous weeks feat of gaining silver as his score left him outside of the medal positions.     Next up saw Jodie Miles, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell and Sophie Roberts all competing in the mixed under 15yrs, 3rd-1st Kyu category. Up first was Alex Sell who scored 7.2, 7.3 & 7.3 totalling 21.8 for his performance of Chatanyara Kushanku. That score would leave him in joint third position after the final Katas had been performed. Next up was Jodie Miles who achieved the highest score on the day of 7.4, 7.4 & 7.5 totalling 22.3 for her Seienchin Kata leaving her untouchable in the Gold medal position. Ever improving Sophie Roberts was next up and her score of 7.1, 7.1 & 7.3 (21.5) for Seienchin Kata would leave her just outside the medal positions in 5th place. Last up was 8yr old Aimee Sell who performed Nipaipo Kata. Aimee achieved a score of 7.0, 7.1 & 7.2 leaving her in a very respectable 8th position overall out of 34 competitors. Alex was required to perform an additional Kata at the end as he had tied for third place with another competitor. Alex performed Nipaipo first with his competitor performing Annan Kata afterwards. Alex was beaten into 4th spot as his score of 7.2, 7.3 & 7.3 was topped by a score of 7.3, 7.4 & 7.5. Still, an excellent performance from the quartet with a 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th place from 34 competitors.    The medal ceremony was eventful too as the bronze and silver were handed out correctly and yet the gold medal went to someone completely different as Jodie stopped dead in her tracks as her name wasn’t called out. Thankfully, due to our own efficient score keeping, we were able to sort out the judges scoring fiasco as Jodie finally managed to receive her just rewards.       Following the individual Kata events, the squad entered the team Kata competition. Unfortunately for the team of Jodie, Sophie and Aimee, the age groups were mixed in together and they found themselves up against 3 teams from Ishinryu, all black belts and mostly senior students. The team put up a brave display of Seienchin Kata scoring 7.9, 8.1, 8.2, 8.0 & 7.9 from the five judges totalling 40.1, just 0.2 behind third place position.     The Kumite fighting events finally got underway with Luke Bannister up first in the Boys 6th-4th Kyu 4’8’’ to 5’2’’ category. Luke suffered an early exit narrowly losing his first round fight 6-4 after a battling display. Next up was Alex Sell competing in the Boys 3rd-1st Kyu 4’8’’ to 5’2’’ category. Like Luke, Alex suffered an early exit after a close match losing 6-4 to another local lad, George Gambleton, from Ishinryu. George showed his improvement and went on to win the event. Obviously the first to six points rule working against the boys this time.     Jodie Miles secured her second gold of the day after taking top honours in the Girls 3rd-1st Kyu under 4’8’’ category. With only three competitors a round robin event was held with Jodie winning both fights 6-4 and 6-5 to take the win. Sophie Robrts failed to match Jodie, but matched Alex and Luke by bowing out in the first round too. Competing in the Girls 3rd-1st Kyu 5’2’’ and over category, Sophie, at 5’3’’ was up against stiff opposition and it showed losing 6-3. Once again the first to six points rule going against us.    Before the Cadets event, featuring Lawrence Grosvenor got underway, the team events were held first. Due to our short numbers, Jodie and Sophie were unable to form a team being in different height categories. Jodie was unable to join another team due to lack of competitors whilst Sophie’s services were required by a team from Chinto Karate. Sophie won her bouts to secure silver for herself and her adopted team-mates.      Meanwhile Alex and Luke joined forces to compete against other three-man teams. With only three teams competing, a round robin event was held. Alex chose to fight first against the team from Ishinryu and lost 6-1 dropping points early on. Even though the team could not possibly win, Luke was asked to fight. Luke suffered the same fate as Alex losing 6-0. This six point rule again!! The team were now competing for silver and needed to win both fights in their last round. Alex once again went first and overcame his opponent winning 6-0 whist his opponent stormed off the mat without awaiting the final decision. Luckily for Luke, Alex’s competitor came back before the team was disqualified which meant Luke got an extra fight. Luke didn’t disappoint as he grinded out a 6-1 win after successfully connecting with a series of Mawashigeri kicks. Without the teams third competitor the final victory went to the other team and at two wins to one the match went to… the other team. Yes you read it correctly, the other team were awarded the win… initially. After some recalculations from the judges (1+2=3 etc) and some more intervention on our behalf to sort out another scoring shambles, the team were awarded the silver medal. We’re still not sure if the event was on wins or points scored. Answers on a postcard please.   Finally some normality returned to the competition for the last event of the day, the cadets event. Out came the flags (yippee), out came the judges (yippee) and out went the first to six points’ rule (hurrah). Featuring Lawrence Grosvenor, this event was our last exploit in Ipswich. The category was split into two pools and Big ‘G’ made the wait worth while as he got off to a flying start in his first round match winning 9-0. Lawrence's second round match proved more even staying even until mid way, then Lawrence opened up a decisive lead to take the win 11-6. The semi-final bout proved to be a real cliff-hanger with the Lawrence down at 4-8 at one stage. Lawrence pulled the scores back level to 8-8 and then traded off scores but held out for a narrow 15-13 victory. After the drama of the semi's, the final proved less dramatic as Lawrence took an early lead and pulled away with the final score at 4-1. A great win for Lawrence and Shuhari-Kai's third gold of the day. Well done to all who competed.    Squad: Luke Bannister, Lawrence Grosvenor, Jodie Miles, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell, Sophie Roberts.

 

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