| Forget Noel Coward, Benny Hill and Michael Caine "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!", forget three Mini Coopers trail-blazing a getaway and the "Self Preservation Society" blasting your eardrums, the 'Real' Italian Job was done by England's
very own three Mini Coopers, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell and James Witt. The mission was clear, the plan was formulated and execution was exquisite. In and out with as much gold as possible. Higashi's James Witt teamed up with Aimee and Alex Sell from Shuhari-Kai
Karate Club to form a small but extremely potent force to take on the rest of Europe in the 1st Italy Karate Open Championship - Eurocup. The tournament was held in Jesolo Lido, just outside of Venice in Italy, and was run over a weekend, the 10-11th December 2005.
The tournament held host to 1500 competitors over the weekend with many European Countries being represented, such as Austria, Romania, Ireland, Russia, Slovenia, Belgium, Switzerland and of course Italy, and the trio were keen to pit their skills against this enormous
European contingent.
A little apprehensive at first when we arrived on Friday morning and went to the sports venue to register and collect our hotel information, but that was soon brushed aside as we received a very warm welcome. The coaches received a two-bottled presentation case of
Italian wine whilst each junior competitor received a presentation Karate draw-string bag containing computer games, videos and comics. Wow, this was going to be a good tournament. We arranged our hotel through the tournament organisers and wasn't let down as we were sited only
5 minutes walk from the venue in a pleasant 3* hotel right on the sea front. Shame it was winter time though. A quick wash and brush up and it left us the rest of the day to spend in Venice, an absolutely amazing experience and one we'd love to repeat.
The tournament itself started on Saturday morning and draw sheets were displayed in the venue's foyer for everyone to check. The categories at this competition were really split down too, Kata was split by age, grade and also by style with separate sections for the four
major styles, Wado, Shito, Gojo and Shotokan. The Kumite was split not only by age and weight, but also by regulation - Shobu Ippon, WUKO and WKF. Competitors were able to freely choose which style or regulation to compete in and could compete in all if so inclined. As all our
entry fees were complimentary due to arranging our accommodation through the tournament organisers, Aimee chose
to compete in Wado and Shito Ryu Kata, Alex in Wado and Shito Ryu Kata plus WKF Kumite, and James in WUKO and WKF Kumite. Alex and James also took the opportunity to compete in two weight categories, their own and the next one above. The venue was a Basket Ball hall,
temporarily converted for Karate, with huge amounts of seating around three sides of the hall, with loads of space for seating. The
hall had six areas matted out for competition and each area had five Kata judges (yes five) assigned to score the Kata. Oh and there were no spectators entry fees either! Even without winning any medals this was a tournament to remember.
The Cadet, Junior and Senior Kata events were the first to get underway with Alex and Aimee not being called into action for Kata until after lunch. Up first from the trio was 10 year old Aimee, who was competing in the 9-10yrs, Blue to Brown Belt, Shito Ryu Kata event. The Kata events were
scored by points from each of the five judges with the highest score from a single Kata taking Gold. Aimee was drawn last in her group and Aimee chose to perform Nipaipo Kata from the Shito Ryu stable. Aimee scored between 8.0 and 8.2 from each judge putting her in a clear lead after
her opponents only scored up to 7.8 from the judges. This gave Aimee the honour of claiming the first Gold of the tournament for the trio. But before Aimee could claim her gold medal at the award ceremony, Aimee was called into action once again, this time in
the Wado Ryu Kata category. Aimee was once again drawn last and after watching her opponents perform their Katas, she opted to perform Jion. Aimee scored between 7.9 to 8.1 from the five judges to put her into pole position once again claiming her second Gold of the tournament.
This was her first gold medal for performing a Wado Kata (as Wado Katas are not that spectacular, more functional) which really pleased her Sensei Richard Burridge who does teach traditional Wado Ryu Karate. Her Shito Ryu success goes to double Commonwealth Kata Champion
Jonathan Mottram, who coaches her independently, as he does with her brother Alex Sell who was up next. Aimee claimed her golds on the podium wearing the Union Jack flag which actually got a lot of use during the weekend even though they were the only English contingent to
participate :-).
In the Boys 13-14yrs, Black Belt, Shito Ryu Kata event, Alex performed Nipaipo Kata as Aimee did in her category. Alex, who's still only 13 years old, achieved a score of between 8.0 to 8.3 from the five Kata judges putting him in first place for him to claim his first and the teams third Gold medal of the tournament. Having secured a top three placing,
this allowed Alex to compete in the Superchampion Kata event which was to be held at the end of the days proceedings. The top three Black Belts from each style in the junior categories came to a head-to-head to for the Superchampion title. Before this took place, Alex took part
in the Wado Ryu Kata event. Alex was drawn roughly mid table and although a couple of competitors before him had performed Jion Kata and received only moderate scores compared to some higher scores given to some other less well performed Wado Katas, Alex still opted to go for
Jion. This was the only let down of the weekend as Alex ended in fourth place overall at the end of the event even after putting on a sharp crisp display. Never mind, he'll learn for next time which was the real crux of the trip, to gain European competition experience against
Europe's finest. The Shotokan Kata events were absolutely massive and there were some fine exponents on display. That really delayed the Kata Superchampion event as they overrun by a good hour. Finally the Superchampion event commenced with Alex being drawn 4th. Alex
performed his Shito Ryu Kata, Chatanyara Kushanku, really well and scored mostly in the 8's, up to 8.3 but one judge had him down at 7.9. The Shotokan boys then took stage and performed really well hot off the other mat which had just finished. There was a Shotokan one-two but
Alex did well to break the stranglehold and gain a Bronze medal against some fine performances. After collecting his medals (more Union Jack flag waving) at 9:00pm we set off to find a good Italian restaurant and rejuvenate for the next days events. Sunday was
soon upon us and it was Kumite time. The Shobu Ippon events had taken place the pervious day on one mat leaving just the WUKO and WKF Kumite events to take place today. The female WUKO events took place along side the male WKF events to ensure there were no clashes. One of the
first categories called was the Boys 13-14yrs U55kg which had Alex competing in it. Alex had quite a large category to contend with and came through a number of close rounds but his skill told in the end as he secured Gold and medal number 3 for himself.
The Boys 13-14yrs U60Kg saw 14 years old James finally called into action with Alex also in this event having moved up a weight category. The two boys showed why they're up there with the best as the fought their way through to an all England final. James took the
honours this time claiming his first Gold leaving Alex to settle for Silver which incidentally gave Alex a full set of medals, one bronze, one silver and two golds. James completed the England onslaught as he then moved into the Boys 13-14yrs U65kg event moving up
a weight category as Alex had done. James took no prisoners on his way to the final winning the final in style without dropping a single point. James had claimed his second Gold of the day and boy was that flag popular on the podium! The afternoon saw the male
WUKO regulation Kumite events get underway and it was just James in action now. James started in the Boys 13-14yrs U60kg event and he started where he left off event though he had a couple of hours break. James cruised his way to the final and made no mistakes to secure Gold
number three for himself. James then rounded off a remarkable tournament as he claimed his final Gold in the Boys 13-14yrs U65kg event despite having moved up a weight category once again. That left the trio with 8 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze between them. Event Michael
Caine wasn't that successful!. However the awards were not over. Unbeknown to us there was an overall club competition being run with points being awarded to clubs in four categories; Kata, Shobu Ippon Kumite, WUKO Kumite and WKF Kumite. With 1091 competitors taking
part in the Kata events, Alex and Aimee had secured a top ten finish between them for their various Kata placings coming ninth overall which was a remarkable achievement. They were presented with a Venetian glass trophy for their efforts which is a beautiful reminder of a
fantastic tournament. But there was more... Alex and James had between them come 7th overall for the WKF Kumite classification and received another beautiful Venetian glass trophy. That was fantastic for the boys and both families came home with a wonderful reminder of Venice.
To round things off, each participating club was presented with an engraved glass plaque of the tournament which left us speechless.
Wow, did I mention I though this was going to be a good tournament?
For more information on next years tournament visit www.sportpromotion.it |
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