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Eastern Counties Open Championships A small squad of four attended the Eastern Counties Open at St.Joseph's College, Ipswich on Sunday 18th April 2004 and came away with a hat full of medals. The squad ended the day with 3 Golds, 5 Silvers and 1 Bronze, which were 5 individual medals and 4 team medals. Apart from the team Kata, the Alex Sell and Sophie Roberts both joined teams from Ishinryu for the team Kumite events which proved rewarding for both.    The four squad members started the day in the 3rd to 1st Kyu Kata event and each performed their individual Kata's for the three judges for which their points were awarded. Jodie Miles was the first up from the four towards the end of the event and after performing Seienchin, she took the lead with a score of 7.3, 7.4, 7.4 totalling 22.1 from the judges. Next up was Sophie Roberts who also performed Seienchin. Sophie scored 7.2, 7.2, 7.2 totalling 21.6 which would leave her tied in joint third place. Aimee Sell was the next to performed and she stumbled slightly during her performance of Nipaipo Kata which put her off her stride. She still managed a respectable 7.0, 7.1, 7.1 totalling 21.2 score which left her in joint 9th position. Even with her stumble, she managed a top ten finish. Last up from both the squad and the event was Alex Sell. Alex performed Chatanyara Kushanku Kata and scored 7.2, 7.4, 7.6 from the judges totalling 22.2 and piping Jodie by 0.1 into first place. With a 1-2 already secured, Sophie Roberts narrowly missed out on making it a clean sweep after herself and two other competitors had to perform an additional Kata for third place. Sophie performed Bassai-Dai and scored 7.1, 7.1, 7.2 totalling 21.4 but it wasn't quite good enough this time as she was beaten by Grays Goju-Kai's Mathew Tansley who scored 22.0 for Seipai Kata taking the bronze medal.    The team of Jodie, Aimee and Sophie got together to compete in the open grade team Kata event. Up against some older and higher graded competitors, the team did extremely well to tie in joint first place with an Ishinryu boys team after scoring 7.1, 7.2, 7.2 totalling 21.5 for their performance of Seienchin Kata. An additional performance of their Kata was required along with the team from Ishinryu in order to determine the event winners. Unfortunately they were just beaten after the second Kata's were performed leaving them with a excellent Silver medal.     The individual Kumite events kicked off each of the three fighters (Alex, Jodie and Sophie) each gaining medals. Unfortunately, Aimee still can't fight yet until she's had her eye operation next month. Sophie fought her way to a bronze medal after competing in the girls 5ft 2in and over category. Sophie battled hard and just lost out 5-6 to a last minute warning decision that went against her. Jodie managed a silver after herself and two other opponents competed in a round competition for the girls under 4ft 2in event. Jodie lost her opening fight but made amends winning her second fight. The three girls all tied with one win each but on points Jodie secured second spot for her silver medal. Last up for the individual Kumite events was Alex, who like Jodie, also secured a silver medal for his efforts. Alex won his opening fights to make it into the final. There, Alex trailed from the start but kept pulling back the score only to run out of time at the end and lost out 5-4 in a close match.     The team Kumite events saw Sophie Roberts join forces with another Sophie and Francesca Gambleton, both from Ishinryu who managed to gain a silver medal. Francesca opened for the team but narrowly lost as did her team mate Sophie to some controversial decisions. Her match was replayed following the judges failure to issue contact warnings to her opponent but the outcome remained the same. Sophie Roberts wasn't needed as the third fighter in the end so an easy medal for her. Not as easy as Alex's next two medal were though. Alex Sell had teamed up with Daryl Tyndall and George Gambleton from Ishinryu for the boys 3rd to 1st kyu event. Their presence in the individual event (Alex gained silver with George and Daryl both gaining bronzes) obviously scaring their opponents into submission as they all failed to materialise. This left the boys with no opposition and an easy Gold each. You have to be in it to win it, as they say, and they were the only one's willing to compete. The boys were allowed to compete in the Dan grade event which they relished. Unfortunately, news of their dominance must of spread as once again they were left with no opposition. Another easy Gold. I think at that stage they'd rather had fought for gold than just being handed another trophy which show great attitude. Well done.   So the squad came away with 9 medals - 3 Golds, 5 Silvers and 1 Bronze. Well done and thanks to the Ishinryu teams too.

 

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