Scottish International Karate Open   Three squad members did brave the trip to the land of the Bravehearts and all three, Sophie Roberts, Lawrence Grosvenor and Alex Sell, came away double medal winners. Sunday 3rd April 05 saw Kelvin Hall in Glasgow host the 1st Scottish International Karate Open and a host of talented young stars turned out for this inarguable event.   As ever the Kata events kicked off proceedings and Sophie picked up the first medal of the day as she collected Bronze in the girls 14-15yrs event. Sophie performed Seienchin in the first round and with a 3 flags to 0 win she cruised into the semi-finals. Sophie then performed Bassai-Dai but not well enough to beat her opponent as she lost out 3-0. Sophie still managed to gain a bronze medal which was a good result at this level of competition. Our other Kata competitor was Alex competing in the boys 12-13yrs event. Alex opened his account with a 3 flags to 0 win with his Seienchin Kata. This was then followed this up with a 2-1 win with Bassai-Dai. Now into the semi-finals and a superb Nipaipo taking another 3-0 win left him facing arch rival Jack Dixon in the final. Following the repechage rounds, Jack being red went first and performed Unsu Kata, Alex being blue followed with Chatanyara Kushanku. On the whistle the flags went 1 red and 2 blue to give Alex Gold and the Scottish title.   The team Kumite events were next which only saw Lawrence in action as the other two, Alex and Sophie, were let down. Lawrence teamed up with his England Cadet colleagues, Tom Canham and Ed Mongan, for the Scotland v England final. Following an opening loss from Tom and a drawn match by Ed, the pressure was on Big 'G' to deliver the goods. Lawrence delivered in style securing victory for the team with a 6-1 win collecting a Gold medal to add to his collection.   Next events were the individual Kumite events with Sophie and Alex both up at the same time (which kept coach Grosvenor on his toes).  Sophie won her opening fight with ease in the girls 14-15yrs under 50Kg event beating one of her main rivals, Kerry Coote from EKKA in the process 4-0. After that great win, Sophie went behind 1-0 early on in her next fight and try as she might, the referee just wasn't scoring any of her Gyakuzukis and so the fight ended 1-0. Sophie was rewarded with a Silver medal to add to her earlier one though.  Meanwhile on another mat, Alex recovered from a slow start going into extra time at 0-0 and nicking the point in his first round fight, to win his second round encounter 9-3 in a much more determined mood. The third round saw Alex battle hard once again but claimed a comprehensive 7-3 victory in the end to make the final against his good friend and Southern Regional Squad team mate, James Witt from EKK. The final started (after the ref checked both fighters bruised and battered faces) at a brisk pace. Both fighters came close to scoring but it was Alex who took the lead with a Gyak. But the lead was short lived as James scored a Jodan Mawashigeri shortly afterwards. At 3-1 down Alex fought to regain the lead but was caught by James again with another Jodan kick. At 6-1 down Alex couldn't close the gap and settled for Silver this time. This left Lawrence as our last fighter to compete and following a good 10 minute psych up, Lawrence got a first round bye. Lawrence then faced a very good Scottish opponent in the next round who had just knocked out England's Ed Mongan. Within a few seconds Lawrence was 1-0 down and in a fast paced match but after successive contact warnings Lawrence was back on level terms. Shortly before the end, Lawrence went in for an attack but was caught with a Gyak punch. Lawrence eventually lost out 2-1. Like Sophie though, Lawrence did collect a Bronze medal to make medal number two for Lawrence and squad medal number six.   The trio did extremely well with Lawrence and Sophie especially feeling that they maybe could have done better, but that's the level they've all set themselves at. Alex had the opportunity to attend this competition thanks to SportsAid and the grant he received after being nominated following his success at the English Nationals last year. The championships themselves were well run and refereed fairly. Didn't really witness many bad decisions and the competition actually finished on time! Glasgow was a lively place and even though Celtic lost 2-0, most people we encountered were in high spirits. Will we go be back for the next Scottish International Championships...? Definitely.