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 The Karate England National Junior Championships was nearly the Championships that never was. Originally intended to be hosted by Karate England at its new
headquarters in Bisham Abbey, the internal wrangling within the governing body meant this years event was initially cancelled. The Amateur Martial Arts Association stepped in to fully underwrite and host the championships themselves and conduct the event at its previous home -
Ponds Forge in Sheffield on the same proposed date - Sunday 24th September 2006. Karate England eventually agreed to recognise these championships at the official (albeit alternative) championships.
Although the event was reported to have the highest number of associations in attendance its ever had, the event was held over just one day instead of two and so things were kept moving at a steady pace throughout the day with the Kata
events starting off the proceedings. The Shuhari-Kai small squad of five had only four members competing in Kata; Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell. The final squad member, Vishaal Dovedi, was only competing in the
Kumite event.
Up first for the squad was Aimee competing in the Girls 10-11yrs category. Aimee had been training hard for this tournament and was fully fired up to claim her first Karate England National title having been beaten in the final at
last years tournament. Aimee had four rounds to contend with and started sharply claiming an opening round win as her Bassai-Dai scored all three flags from the judges. The 2nd round saw Aimee perform Seienchin Kata and once again she secured a three flags to nil win. The
semi-final round saw no let-up as Aimee powered her way to yet another three flags win following her Nipaipo Kata to make the finals. All Kata finals were being held jointly on the centre mat so Aimee had a short break before resuming the business of performing. The finals had
five judges on the mat instead of three as in the earlier rounds and were soon in action as the finals commenced. Aimee was to go second and after watching her opponent perform Chatanyara Kushanku, Aimee performed Annan. The judges flagged four to one in favour of Aimee giving
her her first Karate England National title. Aimee did brilliantly as she became the first person from Shuhari-Kai to claim Gold at these National Championships for Kata. Well done Aimee, National Champion.
Both Jodie and Sophie were competing in the Girls 14-15yrs Kata event. The field was large and extremely tough and both girls failed to make it past the opening round. Jodie performed Bassai-Dai but lost out to a stronger
opponent who won the round 3-0. Sophie also performed Bassai-Dai and fell to the same fate as Jodie, losing 3-0 to a stronger opponent. Sophie did get the chance to enter repechage as her winning opponent made the final, but she lost out 3-0 once again as her Seipai was beaten.
Our last Kata exponent was Alex competing in the Boys 14-15yrs. Amusingly Alex had his licence checked a couple of times as his age was called into question. Rather than being too old, he has only just entered this category being
14 years old still. Anyway, Alex made a good start by securing a 3 flags to 0 win following his Seienchin Kata in his opening round. As there was only four rounds and only one WKF compulsory Kata required, Alex performed Nipaipo in round two. An excellent performance saw him
beat his opponents Suparimpei Kata with a 2 flags to 1 win. The semi-final round saw Alex up against one of the groups oldest competitors who performed Goju-Shiho. Alex performed Suparimpei but lost out 2 flags to 1. Alex had one more Kata to
perform to secure bronze in the repechage final. He performed Chatanyara Kushanku securing third spot with a 3 flags to 0 win. Although Alex had gained bronze, his third Kata medal in four years which is a remarkable achievement in itself, he was bitterly disappointed not to
have made the final and this did seem to drain all enthusiasm for his Kumite event. Alex went out in the 1st round in the Boys 14-15yrs, U65kg event as he was penalised twice for stepping out of the area when the fight had gone into extra time following a 0-0 score line. Alex's
opponent was awarded a point and duly won the match. Alex didn't make repechage either as his winning opponent subsequently lost his next round match.
The Girls 14-15yrs, U57kg event saw Jodie in action. Jodie's opening round opponent was a good foot taller than herself and having only just turned 14 herself last month, Jodie was really up against it. Jodie put on a spirited performance but it
wasn't enough as she lost out 5-0.
The Girls 14-15yrs, Over 57kg event saw Sophie competing in what was to be her final match at these junior championships. Sophie was unlucky to lose out after the match was tied at 3-3 at the final bell. In extra time, Sophie was beaten to the punch
and lost the chance to claim a medal for the final time.
The Boys 10-11yrs, Over 45kg saw Vishaal competing for the first time at these National Championships. There was a relatively small field in this category which saw Vishaal enter at the semi-final stage. Vishaal lost a lot of points early on but
eventually started to claim some back only for the bell to sound signalling the end of the match leaving him with a 8-3 defeat. Vishaal did secure a repechage spot and was awarded third place as his opponent failed to show allowing Vishaal to gain a bronze in his very first
Nationals.
The squad came home with 1 Gold and 2 Bronzes. Well done guys - you can't ask more than perform to your best ability and you made us all proud.
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