Seishin Open Championships   The Seishin Open held on 7th August 2005 was one or our local competitions only being about 20 miles away at the Grundy Leisure Centre in Hertfordshire. M25, A10, nice and easy. Given it was holiday season, the hall was packed with competitors and spectators making this seems like one of the largest competitions attended this year. A lot of the categories were quite open and this made for a large amount of entries in some events.   Alex Sell was competing in the Mixed Under 16 years Non-Elite Black Belt category with around 30 other competitors. Alex received a first round bye and in round two he performed Unshu taking the flags 3-0. In round three, Alex performed Annan and secured a 2-1 win. The semi-final saw Alex perform Nipaipo and progress to the final as his opponent was disqualified for repeating her Kata. The final saw a Chatanyara Kushanku shoot out as both Alex and his opponent performed this Kata. Alex came out on top taking the Gold with a 2 flags to 1 victory.   The Mixed Under 16 years 3rd - 1st Kyu category saw over 60 competitors lining up for this event. The organisers split this category into two pools with the two pool finalists battling it out for the Gold. Sophie Roberts was in pool one and she progressed to the second round as she secured a 3 flags to 0 win with her Bassai-Dai Kata. Sophie had to bow out in round two unfortunately as her Seipai Kata was beaten 3-0. In the pool two, both Jade Lewis and Aimee Sell were competing together. Jade bowed out in the first round as her Bassai-Dai Kata was just beaten 2 flags to 1. It was the other way round for Aimee as her Bassai-Dai Kata in round one secured a 2 flags to 1 victory. In round two, Aimee Performed Seienchin and once again won 2-1. The third round saw Aimee perform Nipaipo Kata and once again a 2-1 win saw her safely into the next round. In round four things were hotting up and getting tougher, Aimee performed Annan Kata and once more secured a 2 flags to 1 win. Now in the semi-finals and already satisfied with her overall performance and progress she performed Jion (Wado version). Following a brief discussion by the judges (presumably on her version of Jion?) she took the decision once again 2-1. After approximately two hours and 5 rounds of Kata, 10 year old Aimee had found herself in the U16 Brown Belt final against the pool one finallist. Aimee performed Unsu Kata in the final but lost out 3 flags to 0 settling for Silver in this gruelling event. This was a magnificent result for Aimee following her Gold at the Welsh Junior Open the day before making for a very satisfying weekend for her.   Finally around 3:30 the Kumite events commenced. Up first in his very first competition was 6 year old Callum Alboni who was competing in the Mixed Under 9's category.  Callum was the first fighter up and although he lost 6 points to nil he smiled all the way through, even when he lost he came off the mat laughing. I think he obviously enjoyed it which stands him in good stead for the future.   Competing in the Boys 9-10 Years category was Ali Ayerman. Ali, like Callum before him, bowed out in the first round as he lost the judges decision following the tied 0-0 score at the end of extra time. Unlucky Ali, better luck next time.   Jade Lewis was up next in the Girls 11-15 Years Under 40KG event and once again we suffered a first round casualty as Jade lost out 1-3. Sophie Roberts did go one better as she cruised to an 8-0 opening win in the Girls 11-15 Years Over 50KG event. Sophie then came up against her good friend, Sheila Kemp, in the following round and Sophie lost 3 points to 5. Disappointed at losing, at least she was consoled as it was her friend that progressed to the semi-finals.   The boys 11-15 Years Under 50KG saw only four competitors line up with Alex Sell being one of them. The organisers conducted a weigh-in for this event and only three of them were allowed to continue, with one being moved into the heavily subscribed Over 50KG category. Alex received a bye into the final (typical) and he had a right-old bruising encounter with his Shikon opponent. Following an earlier punch to the face for Alex where he was knocked onto his coaches lap, his opponent then swung a right hander at him after 'Yame' had been called. Lucky not to be disqualified, he was penalised 2 points instead which meant Alex only had to keep his cool and see out the duration of the match to secure his second Gold of the day.   Last up was Dean Bannister who was competing in two events, the Male 16-17 years Under 60KG and Male 16-17 years Open Weight event. With only himself and another opponent in the U60KG event, Dean settled for Silver as his opponent, English national champion, Mitchel Keil, secured a 5-1 victory over him. Dean then went into the Open Weight event but lost out in the opening round 6-2. There were some big competitors in this category and little Dean was brave to even attempt it. Well done.   And so finally it ended with the squad of seven picking up 2 Golds and 2 Silvers between them with Callum (the Smiling Assassin) coming through his first ever competition unscathed. Well done to all.   Squad: Callum Alboni, Ali Ayerman, Dean Bannister, Jade Lewis, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell.