 Shuhari-Kai Karate Club student Alex Sell claimed a British title winning Gold at the British Youth Karate Championships, held in Ponds
Forge, Sheffield, on 10-11 June 2006. 14 year old Alex, competing in the Boys 14-15 years Kata category, did extremely well coming through three rounds to make the final. Alex cruised through his opening round Kata as his Bassai-Dai won 3 flags to nil. Round two saw Alex
perform Nipaipo and once again secure a 3 flags to nil win. The semi-final saw another 3 flags win for Alex as his Chatanyara Kushanku Kata proved too strong for his opponent. The final which was held later that day saw Alex up against Harry Cannon who had claimed victory over
the two of them at the recent Ishinryu Summer invitational. This time Alex didn’t disappoint as he upped his game and his Suparinenpi Kata secured the title with a 4 flags to 1 win.
Alex’s sister, 10 year old Aimee Sell, secured a Bronze in the Girls 10-11 years category although she robbed herself of gold. Aimee had cruised through the opening rounds securing 3 flags to nil wins following her opening round Kata of
Bassai-Dai and second round Kata of Seienchin. The semi-final saw Aimee perform Seipai Kata and secured a 3 flags to nil win only to have the victory taken away from her following her announcement to the table officials that she had performed a different Kata by mistake than
the one she had written down to perform. The thing was that Aimee was more concerned at denying her fellow competitors who she’d just beaten the chance to compete in the repechage rounds. As it was, it was Aimee in the repechage final and her performance of Annan secured her
with the bronze.
The Girls 12-13 years category saw 13 year old Jodie Miles in action for the first time following her broken wrist. Jodie received a first round bye but got back into the swing of things with a 3 flags to nil win for her Seienchin Kata in
the second round. The third round saw Jodie perform Nipaipo to good effect once again securing another 3 flags to nil win. The semi-final was a close affair with Jodie performing Seipai but just losing out 2 flags to 1 just missing the final. Jodie did secure a repechage spot
and the repechage final saw Jodie lose out 3 flags to nil following her Unshu Kata which left Jodie without a medal this time round.
The squad’s final competitor was 15 year old Sophie Roberts competing at her last British Youth Championships in the Girls 14-15 years category. Sophie performed Bassai-Dai Kata in her opening round but her progress was prematurely halted
as she was beaten 3 flags to nil. Unfortunately her victorious opponent failed to make the final denying Sophie a repechage spot and chance for a medal.
Both Alex and Sophie were the only two in action the following day (Sunday) competing in the Boys 14-15 years Under 65kg category and the Girls 14-15yrs Over 57kg category respectively.
Alex received a first round bye but failed to make it past the second round as he lost out 3 points to nil in what was a pretty disappointing display from Alex. Alex’s opponent failed to make the final leaving Alex no chance of a repechage
consolation bronze.
Sophie made a better start than Alex securing a 6 points to 1 second round victory following her first round bye. The third round saw a closer match with Sophie initially penalised for an excessively powered Chudan Mawashigeri kick.
Sophie carried on in the match landing two or three more Mawashigeri kicks but all failed to score as they were now being judged as too soft. The score finished 3-1 in favour of Sophie’s opponent with Sophie feeling completely frustrated with the officials at their lack of
consistency in a match Sophie felt she should have won. Sophie’s opponent also failed to make the final in another controversial decision by the judges meaning Sophie’s medal hopes were dashed with the chance of repechage gone.
All in all, Alex was pleased with his Kata title but embarrassed with his Kumite efforts, Aimee gets the biggest doughnut of the day award for performing the wrong Kata and being disqualified even though she won the round, Jodie seems to
be on the mend following her broken wrist suffering no ill effects and Sophie looked in devastating form in Kumite once again but the decisions just didn’t go her way this time.
SQUAD: Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell. |