Wado-Kai England Open Karate Championships   Shuhari-Kai Karate Club squad came away with 6 medals from the Wado-Kai England Open held over the weekend of 25/26th June 2005. The competition, held at the Rivermead Leisure Complex, Reading, was held over two days, Saturday being for Kata and Sunday for Kumite. Saturday was good in that it finished quite early, 3:45pm approx. Sunday wasn't too much later when we left as we didn't have any senior team events to hang around for.   The first events to get underway on Saturday were the U11yrs events with Jordan Hodges competing in the Mixed U11yrs 4th Kyu & below category. Jordan performed Pinan Yodan but lost 3-0 in the opening round. That was to be the pattern of events for the rest of the squad competing in  the Wado Kata events. Up next was Aimee Sell in the Mixed U11yrs 3rd Kyu+ event. Aimee decided to change her opening Kata at the last minute (whilst walking on) to Pinan Nidan. Bad mistake as she hadn't practiced this one and put in a wrong block changing it mid Kata. Surprisingly she actually got 1 flag from one of the judges. Aimee, what a doughnut.   The Mixed 11-15yrs 3rd Kyu+ category saw Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts and Alex Sell all competing together. Jodie performed an excellent Kushanku Kata and surprisingly lost 3-0. Jodie's competitor even admitted to Jodie that she should of won, especially as she made a mistake in her Kata. Sophie performed Jion as her opening Kata but lost 3-0.  Then the judges realised they made a mistake as her opponent had been called up twice by mistake. Up again Sophie allowed to perform Jion once again and another 3-0 defeat. Sophie did make repechage but once again suffered a 3-0 defeat for her Kushanku Kata. Alex was the only one to progress into the second round following his 3-0 Jion win. The second round saw Alex perform Seishan Kata. Definitely not his strongest Wado Kata (in my opinion), and Alex lost 2 flags to 1. Asked why he performed that Kata, Alex replied "I was watching the other competitors and that Kata was the only one that looked the same as I do it!"  Doughhhhh!  And on to the team Wado Kata event. Jion, 3-0 loss, say no more.   The Shito Kata events proved a little more fruitful with Aimee Sell competing in the Mixed U11yrs 3rd Kyu+ combined Shito/Gojo/Shoto Kata event. Aimee performed Bassai-Dai in round one for a 3-0 win. In round two she performed Seienchin for another 3-0 win. The semi-final saw Aimee take a 2-1 win with Nipaipo. Aimee has only learnt three Shito-Ryu Katas well and therefore elected to perform Unsu - a Shotkan Kata. Aimee hasn't practiced this Kata only learning it on a course a few months earlier and not surprisingly lost 3 flags to 0. Aimee took a well deserved silver though.   Once again, Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts and Alex Sell all competing together again, this time in the Mixed 11-15yrs 3rd Kyu+ Shito Kata event. Sophie received a 1st round bye but then lost out in round two 3-0 after taking the opportunity to perform Unshu. Jodie won her opening round 3-0 with her Bassai-Dai Kata. She then matched her performance once again with her Seienchin Kata. The 3rd round saw Jodie Narrowly defeated as her Seipai lost out 2-1. Alex was the last in this category for the squad and opened up his account with a 2-1 win with his Seienchin Kata. Round two saw Alex take a 3-0 with his Bassai-Dai performance. The 3rd round was wrapped up with a 2-1 win for his Annan Kata which was performed well. Alex then performed an excellent Nipaipo Kata in the semi-final only to lose 2-1.  Alex performed Chatanyara Kushanku in the final repechage round to secure the bronze medal with a 2 flags to 1 win.   The final Kata event was the Mixed Open Team Kata. With only 3 teams competing Aimee, Jodie & Sophie performed Seienchin Kata but lost out 3-0 but gained bronze nonetheless. How good would they be if they ever actually practiced together??? That was it for Saturday, home early for once and some good rest for the next day.   Sunday's competition was a whole lot busier, obviously there's more fighters out there than Kata exponents. The Squad were joined by a few extra members with the only absentee from the previous days squad being Aimee Sell who can't fight due to her eye injury.  First underway for the squad was Jordan Hodges in the Boys U11yrs 4'3"+ event. This event was large and split into two pools with Jordan and Ali Ayerman in pool A and Vishaal Dovedi in pool B. Jordan was a 1st round casualty as he lost out 3-1 after two of his Mawashigeri kicks were ruled to be excessive penalising him for both and scoring neither. Tough luck Jordan but you don't always get the decisions. Up next was Ali Ayerman who managed to snatch a winner towards the end of the match to take a 1-0 win into the next round. However, during his 2nd round match, Ali twisted his foot during the fight and had to withdraw due to injury. Thankfully his injury isn't serious, just a little sore. Vishaal Dovedi was the last of the trio competing and try as he might he had to bow out in the opening round after losing 3-1.   Next up for the squad was Alex Sell competing in the Boys 11-14yrs U50KG event. Alex started a little slowly easing to a 2 point lead in his opening round match before easing up a little and getting caught with a Chudan Mawashigeri kick to level the score line. Alex quickly responded to take a 3-2 and held this to the end to see him into the next round. In the 2nd round, won in more a convincing manner winning 6-2. The semi-final round saw Alex win 7-3 in a hard fought match to take him into the final. Alex made sure of Gold as he won his match 4-0 even without his final Chudan Mawashigeri kick being scored as he was warned for excessive contact (a-la Jordan earlier). Well done Psycho.   The Bulldog secured Bronze as she narrowly failed to make the Girls 11-14yrs U45KG final in her semi-final match following two Byes. Jodie Miles lost the match 1-0 after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at her opponent only for the judges not to score any of her techniques. Jodie made amends in repechage as she took a 8-3 victory for bronze.   Sophie Roberts competed in the Girls 11-14yrs over 50KG event and stormed through her opening round with a comprehensive 8-0 win. Her next round match, the semi-final, was a much closer affair as Sophie narrowly gained the win with a 5-4 victory. The final was also a close affair with another 5-4 score line but Sophie narrowly lost out this time as she was on the wrong side of the score. At least she gained some valuable experience and silver for her efforts. Well done Bandit.   Next up was Elle Ayerman competing in the Girls 15-17yrs U65KG event. Elle won her opening round match with a 3-2 victory but an earlier hand injury was beginning to hamper her chances of further progression. In the next round Elle's bruised hand was hurting her but she refused to give up and to her credit kept on plugging away eventhough the score line suggested she had little chance of victory. Elle finally lost out 9-0 but anyone who shows that kind of spirit deserves nothing but praise, certainly not any criticism. Well done Elle, a true battler.   The Boys 15-17yrs U65KG event saw JJ Burridge take to the mat. JJ looked in impressive form as he stormed through to the next round with a 8-0 win following an impressive array of techniques. Unfortunately JJ's techniques were not scored in the 2nd round round as he suffered two counter-punches following his unsuccessful attacks to loose the match 2-0. Tough luck Buda, things may actually go your way one day. Our final competitor of the day was Zack Moussa competing in only his second competition. Zack was up against some vastly more experienced opponents in the Mens 18yrs+ U70KG event. Zack put up a good show but inevitably lost out 8-0. Keep trying Zack and you'll get better & better with a little more experience.   Well done to all those who attended the competition either on one or both days. Congratulations to all those who medalled and an even bigger well done to those who didn't. You gave 100% on the day and should be proud of your efforts.  Shuhari-Kai would like to thank the Wado-Kai Association for organising and the smooth running of the competition.   Oh, and I mustn't forget our coach for the day, Lawrence Grosvenor, who gave all the competitors loads of support and encouragement.   Squad: Ali Ayerman, Elle Ayerman, JJ Burridge, Vishaal Dovedi, Jordan Hodges, Jodie Miles, Zack Moussa, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell.