 The Shuhari-Kai squad shone once more at the Meopham Open Junior Championships dominating the Kata rounds again and also showing well in the Kumite events too with the squad bringing home 8 medals in total, 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronzes. The
largest squad of the year so far at 14, set off on Sunday 12th March 2006 to meet up in Meopham, Kent, to take part in what is becoming a very popular tournament.
The Kata events were first with the format being an initial points scoring round, the top four placings going into a knockout contest judged by the three judges using the flag system. Callum Alboni was the first up for the squad competing in the Mixed 6th Kyu and
Below category. Callum performed Pinan Nidan Kata and scored 7.0, 6.9 & 6.8 from the three judges totalling 20.7. Although this was a good score it wasn't sufficient for Callum to progress to the knockout stages.
The Mixed 5th-4th Kyu category saw both Billy Lowry and Jordan Hodges competing together. Billie performed Pinan Sandan and scored 6.8, 6.8 & 6.7 from the three judges totalling 20.3 whilst Jordan performed Pinan Sandan and scored 7.0, 6.9 & 6.8 totalling 20.7.
Unfortunately, like Callum, neither competitor made the final cut on this occasion falling just short of the top four scores although they both performed well.
Jodie Miles was in sparking form in the Mixed Dan grade category against a small but very competent field. Jodie performed her opening Kata, Bassai-Dai to good effect with the judges rewarding her performance with a top score of 7.5, 7.3 & 7.2 totalling 22.0.
Jodie was easily into the knockout stages and after the remaining competitors had completed the points round, she performed Nipaipo Kata in her semi-final match. She out-classed her opponent with all three judges flagging for her. The final saw Jodie against a tough opponent, but Jodie's Seipai Kata out-shone her opponents Chatanyara Kushanku
Kata with Jodie securing a 2-1 win to take a well deserved Gold and secure her second successive Meopham Kata Gold. Jodie is clearly one of the best female Kata competitors in the country in her age group and even though Jodie wasn't the oldest competitor here, her stunning
performances meant she never looked in danger of losing.
The Mixed 1st Kyu category saw Jade Lewis, Sophie Roberts and Aimee Sell all in action together. Aimee was called into action first having already witnessed some good performances and knew she had to perform well in order to make the final four against
this large field. Aimee performed Seienchin Kata and scored 7.1, 7.0 & 7.0 from the three judges totalling 21.1 which left her in 3rd place overall at this stage. Next up was Jade who also chose to perform Seienchin too and scored the exact same score as Aimee, 21.1. Finally Sophie
was called onto the mat and she chose to perform Bassai-Dai. Amazingly Sophie also scored 21.1 from the three judges to equal the other girls' score. After the remaining competitors had completed their Katas, the trio hadn't had anyone beat their score which meant the final two
knockout places were to be contested between themselves. With the three girls were called up to perform the exact same Katas once more to determine the best two, Aimee scored 21.3, Jade scored 21.2 and Sophie also scored 21.2. Aimee had secured the 3rd spot but the remaining spot
was now between Jade and Sophie who had once again tied their scores. Jade up once more performed Seienchin one final time securing a score of 7.1, 7.0, 7.0 totalling 21.1. Sophie performed Bassai-Dai once more and pulled out an extraordinary performance to score 7.2, 7.1 & 7.1
putting her 0.2 ahead of Jade who unfortunately had to bow out in the knowledge that she had finished the event in 5th position and as close to a medal as you could get without actually winning one. The first semi-final saw Aimee drawn against a Goju-ryu student 4 years
her senior. Aimee performed a flawless Annan Kata and beat her opponent's Seipai Kata 3 flags to 0. The other semi-final saw Sophie against another Goju-ryu student who Sophie had beaten last time at this event. Unfortunately Sophie couldn't repeat that feat as her
Seipai Kata narrowly lost out 2 flags to 1 leaving her to settle for a hard earned Bronze. Aimee now in the final performed another impressive Kata, this time Nipaipo, and wowed the judges by securing another brilliant 3 flags to 0 win and secure her second successive Meopham Kata
Gold too. At only 10 years old, Aimee may have been one of the youngest in this category, but she gave one of the biggest performances of all. She is certainly one of the best, if not the best Kata competitors in Britain in her age group and just seems to go from strength
to strength with each performance.
All the girls did brilliantly in the Kata events and so Aimee, Jodie and Sophie, already three Kata medallists, teamed up for the Team Kata event, an event the squad has won the on the last two occasions here. The trio were the penultimate team to be called into action and
produced a very crisp, sharp and strong team performance of Seienchin Kata which attracted a score of 7.3, 7.2 & 7.1 from the three judges totalling 21.6. They finished 0.2 ahead of the last team to perform from Goju-ryu and made it a hatrick of Team Kata wins which is an
amazing feat made all the more impressive given their lack of specific team kata training. Just demonstrates how closely these girls perform at the top level. The Kumite events were soon underway and the Boys 6-7yrs category saw both Aryan Ayerman and
Callum Alboni competing in this event. Aryan won his opening round in impressive fashion as he won by 8 clear points ending the match at 9-1 in his favour. Aryan could reproduce that from in the second round losing out 5-3 and just out of the medals. Callum had a
first round bye and ensured he made the semi-finals by securing a close 3-2 victory. But the young 6 year-old lost out in the semis 5-0 failing to score against his opponent. Nonetheless, all the competitions and experience he's gaining is paying off as he's starting to get in
amongst the medals securing a bronze on this occasion. Billie Lowry was straight into the semi-finals in the Girls 6-7yrs category and she was straight down to business making short work of her opposition winning in emphatic style by 8 clear points ending the
match at 9-1. The final saw a much closer encounter as Billie fought out a hard earned win to take the gold by a solitary point with the score 7-6 in her favour. Well done Billie. Rhys Floyd is still fairly new to competition took the opportunity to gain some
valuable experience at this tournament. Rhys tried hard in his opening round match of the Boys 8-9 yrs event but lost out 8-0 in the end. The Boys 10-11yrs category had Vishaal Dovedi, Ali Ayerman and Jordan Hodges competing together. Vishaal had
a great opening round with the scores swinging one way then the other but Vishaal ending on the wrong side of a 7-6 score line and end his involvement prematurely. Jordan Hodges made a good opening start winning his first round 5-2 but Jordan ended his medal hopes in round two
as he narrowly lost out 4-3. Ali Ayerman won his opening round 7-3 looking in good shape but like Jordan lost out in round two failing to overcome a 5-3 deficit.
The Boys 12-13yrs category saw Andrew Ayerman in action but Andrew's involvement was short lived as he went out in the opening round losing 2-0. The Girls 12-13yrs event saw Jade Lewis and Jodie Miles in action together. Jodie never really got
going in her opening match and lost out 11-2 to make an early exit. Jade received a first round bye to make the semi-final rounds. Jade started brightly but failed score against her opponent and went out 2-0 settling for a bronze medal. Sophie Roberts and
Elle Ayerman were up next in the Girls 14-15yrs category. Elle received a first round bye but failed to progress passed round two as she suffered from a narrow 7-6 defeat to end her medal hopes. Sophie also had her medal aspirations dashed as she narrowly lost out 3-2 in
her second round match after showing such great promise in her opening round match winning that encounter 8-0. That left our last competitor to take centre stage, Dean Bannister. Competing in the Male Cadets category, Dean narrowly won his opening round match 3-2 before
finding his feet in the next semi-final round claiming victory by 8 clear points winning 10-2. Dean was now up against an England Cadet in the final and put on a great show but had to settle for silver in the end as the score finished 4-2. A great display by Dean who shows how
determination and effort do have their rewards. Well done to all the squad who competed, Amir our tournament coach and the parents for keeping the scores. Good team effort. |