Toyakwai International Open Championships   Sunday 23rd October 2005 saw over 600 competitors from 10 different countries come together to compete in the Toyakwai International Open Championships held in Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, Essex. The Shuhari-Kai squad collected 6 medals with Golds for the two boys Jordan Hodges and Alex Sell with Jordan claiming top honours in the 10-11yrs Kumite event and Alex claiming a double Gold in the Dan Grade Kata and 12-13yrs Kumite events. More medals were collected by Jodie Miles who claimed a Bronze in the Dan Grade Kata event, Dean Bannister who claimed a Bronze in the Cadets Team Kumite event and Alex Sell again who picked up his third medal, a Bronze, in the Junior Mixed Team Kumite event.   The Mixed Junior Dan Grade Kata event saw Alex Sell up first and after performing Chatanyara Kushanku, the three judges scored him 7.5, 7.4 & 7.2 totalling 22.1. Jodie Miles was drawn mid table and after performing Seipai Kata scored 7.3, 7.2 & 7.0 from the three judges totalling 21.5. After the remaining Katas had been performed, Alex remained in top spot with the highest points total to claim Gold with Jodie coming in joint third position to claim Bronze.   The Mixed Junior 3rd-1st Kyu Kata event saw Vishaal Dovedi, Jade Lewis, Sophie Roberts and Aimee Sell competing together in this very large event. Vishaal performed Kushanku Kata and scored 20.4 from the judges. Jade scored 20.6 for her demonstration of Nipaipo Kata. Sophie scored a total of 21.0 for performing Unshu Kata and finally Aimee performed Nipaipo Kata and scored 21.8. After the completion of the remaining Katas Aimee lay just 0.1 outside of the medal positions so no medals for our budding brown belts this time. The girls did join forces for the Junior Team Kata event but the trio of Aimee, Jodie and Sophie finished 0.1 behind the medal positions scoring 7.2, 7.2 & 6.8 from the three judges.   There was also no Kata medal for Jordan Hodges in the Mixed Junior 6th-4th Kyu as his performance of Pinan Shodan failed to gain a high enough score to put him in the medal positions. But Jordan made amends in the Boys 10-11yrs, 5th Kyu+ Kumite event. Jordan edged a cagey first round encounter taking a 4 points to 3 win into the next round. Jordan then won his quarter final match 3-1. The semi-final saw Jordan win the match 4-2 after taking a late blow to his shoulder but he saw out the remaining seconds to make the final. The final saw a close match but Jordan came through in the end to claim a 4-3 victory and Gold for his efforts.   There was a second Gold medal for Alex Sell in the Boys 12-13yrs, 5th Kyu+ event. In all fairness, Alex did tower over nearly all of his opponents in this category and always looked a good bet to make the final and fortunately he didn't disappoint. Alex opened up his account with ease as he won his opening match 8-3 winning on the first to 8 points rule in force. The next round saw Alex win the 8-0 and then go on to claim an 8-1 semi-final victory. Alex's opponent in the final was supposed to be George Hayter but having suffered a hard blow to the ribs in the previous round George pulled out and the final was awarded to Alex automatically.   There were some first round exits suffered by some squad members as Jodie Miles was somewhat harshly disqualified for excessive contact in her opening round Kumite event. Callum Alboni was another first round casualty losing 6 points to 2. Sophie Roberts narrowly lost 5 points to 4 whilst Elle Ayerman lost out 3-1 in the same category. Vishaal Dovedi lost out too, 8 points to 4, in his opening round. They were joined by Luke Hudson who lost out 8-2 in his first round, however Luke was only competing in his second competition.   New-comers to the squad and competing in their first ever competition were, Charlie Smeeth, Molly Wilsher, and James Kinsey. Both were first round casualties on this occasion as Charlie lost her opening match 3-0 and James lost out 8-1. James put on a good show but his lack of experience showed this time round, better luck next time. Jade Lewis and Ali Ayerman were the exceptions as Jade secured a 7-4 opening round win but then lost out in the quarterfinal 5-0. Ali had a first round bye and then secured a second round 8-3 win. Ali lost out in the quarterfinal 4-1 just one round short of a medal. Unlucky Ali.   Dean Bannister entered into two events the Male 16yrs and over, 3rd Kyu+ and the Cadets 16-19yrs Open Grade. Dean lost out in the Male 16+ event losing 8-5 in a close match with him 5-5 at one stage against an England squad member. In the Cadets event Dean won his opening round match 8-2 but narrowly lost the next round 7-5 in another close match. Dean is obviously growing in confidence with each tournament and was asked to join in the Cadet team event. Dean did well and picked up a Bronze with his team mates after negotiating a couple of rounds with them.   The Junior Team events saw Jodie, Vishaal and Sophie team up for this event whilst Alex joined the team from Saxon Karate. Jodie was up first for the team and fighting a smaller opponent received one too many contact warnings and was disqualified from the match. Vishaal put up a good display to hold his opponent to a 4-4 draw. Sophie took on a male opponent and did brilliantly to beat him 6-3 but the team progress was cut short as they lost out on points as Jodie's disqualification counted as a 8-0 loss. Meanwhile, following a first round bye, Alex was called into action following his team mates win and a draw. Alex won his match 5-1 to take the team into the semi-finals. The semis saw both Alex's team mates lose their matches 1-0 and 3-2 respectively and having to settle for Bronze.   The squad did well at this competition bringing home 3 golds and 2 bronzes with a few newcomers to competition making the debuts. Big thanks to Joe Anderson and Toyakwai for putting on some great competitions this year.   Squad: Callum Alboni, Ali Ayerman, Elle Ayerman, Dean Bannister, Vishaal Dovedi, Jordan Hodges, Luke Hudson, James Kinsey, Jade Lewis, Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell Charlie Smeeth, Molly Wilsher.