A small squad of four from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club, representing our association, Shorai Karate-Do International (SKDI) set off for Sheffield on Friday 23rd September for the weekend stay whilst
attending the England Junior National Karate Championships held in Ponds Forge. The squad did very well to come away with 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze despite suffering from a wealth of disqualifications for which none were really their fault.
Jodie Miles suffered disqualification in the Girls 12-13yrs Kata event. Her Bassai-Dai Kata contained a move deemed too slow by the judges and she was duly disqualified suffering the same fate as Alex did
in the British earlier in the year. The Chief Referee was involved in some discussions that followed this time and I believe the move was deemed to be correct after all. However it was too late for Jodie, as her winning opponent had continued through the event completing more
rounds and Jodie was not allowed re-entry. How fair is that?
Sophie Roberts wasn’t to be outdone by Jodie as she too was disqualified from her event, the Girls 14-15yrs Kata event. This time however, Sophie was disqualified for performing Seienchin Kata incorrectly.
Apparently a move has been introduced or changed which hasn’t been filtered through to the students. How would they know and where would this information come from??? How fair is that?
Alex and Aimee Sell were both on a different mat to Jodie & Sophie and they didn’t get disqualified for performing exactly the same Katas. Maybe they should have too. This does highlight one issue, inconsistency between the mats and what
exactly is THE Defacto standard for compulsory Kata. It was obvious from the event that each mat had their own interpretation but I’d like to see someone set the standard and have this filtered through.
Anyway, Aimee Sell claimed a silver in the Girls 10-11yrs Kata event. This was Aimee’s first nationals and she was very pleased to gain a medal. The final was very close with both finalists performing the same Kata, Annan.
To be fair her opponent gave a very strong performance, probably stronger than Aimee’s but I thought Aimee gave a better technical performance. They split the vote with a two flags to one in favour of Aimee’s opponent. I’m sure Aimee will be back better and stronger next year.
They Boys 12-13yrs Kata event saw Alex Sell match his sister’s achievement and secure a silver medal. This was Alex’s second silver Kata medal in three years. Just can’t quite get the gold. The final was another close affair with
Alex putting in a great performance of Chatanyara Kushanku but like Aimee the decision went against him two flags to one this time. On another mat Alex could of won, but having said that, on another mat who knows, he may also have been disqualified. Consistency eh.
That proved to be Alex’s only medal of the championships as he was later disqualified in the Boys 12-13yrs U55kg Kumite event. Alex had won his Kumite events for the last two years running and did look odds-on favourite to at least make
the finals but after successfully negotiating his opening two rounds, he suffered a disqualification (well, he couldn’t let Jodie & Sophie claim all the glory) in the third round. Alex made a Mawashigeri kick to his opponent’s back as his opponent began to turn his back towards
Alex. The kick caught his opponent between the shoulder blades and his opponent went down on his knees and probably jarred his neck as he did so. His opponent was taken off the mat on medical advice and Alex disqualified for what the judges thought was a kick to the back of the
neck. Even though there was video evidence that Alex hadn’t caught him there, all referees refuse to even talk to someone without a coaching badge. Does this penalise smaller associations or competitors without a coach? How fair is that?
Jodie also failed to gain a Kumite medal as she suffered a close first round defeat in the Girls 12-13yes event but Sophie did manage to gain herself a bronze medal in the Girls 14-15yrs
U57kg event. Sophie lost out in the quarterfinals losing to the eventual finalist but came back through repechage to claim her first national medal at last. Sophie put in a dominant performance and once taking the lead out-performed her opponent to claim a great victory for her
especially after losing to her opponent the previous year.
So all-in-all the squad performed to the best of their abilities and only failed to medal in some events due to circumstances which were really beyond their control. Even though they came home with 2 silvers and 1 bronze, they felt a
little disappointed, especially at the disqualifications they suffered. In fact the only squad member not to suffer from a disqualification was Aimee. Still, she’s got time. |
