|  The 2nd Scottish International Karate Open saw 3 Shuhari-Kai squad members, Sophie Roberts and Alex & Aimee Sell, travel to Glasgow on Friday 31st March 2006 to participate in the tournament being held over the weekend. The squad's
4th member, Lawrence Grosvenor, travelled up on Saturday morning to compete his individual and team event being held that day. After an early Saturday morning rise, a full Scottish breakfast and a leisurely walk to the venue, Kelvin Hall, it was down to business with Aimee up
first in her Kata event.
Aimee was competing in the Girls 10-11yrs category, but due to a low number of entries her category was merged into the Girls 12-13yrs category. There were some very experienced, highly successful competitors in this category, lest the foreign contingent which
remained an unknown quantity, and that really set the scene for the rest of the tournament, not huge categories, but a very high quality field. Aimee's category was the first to get underway, and being drawn AKA (red), she was the tournaments opening competitor. Aimee's first
round Kata saw her perform Seienchin and she took all the judges flags winning 3-0. Aimee's next round was the semi-final which saw her against an excellent and very experienced opponent. Aimee performed Annan Kata whilst her opponent performed a strong Empi. Aimee did
brilliantly to win 3-0 once again. The final saw Aimee once again against a strong and equally successful opponent. Aimee performed Nipaipo against her opponents Annan Kata. Aimee took the Gold against all the odds without even dropping a single flag throughout. This was a
brilliant achievement for the 10 year old who in theory could stay in this category for another 3 years.
Sophie Roberts was competing in the pinnacle of the junior Girls category, the 14-15yrs. Like Aimee in her category, Sophie was up against some very talented opponents. Sophie performed Bassai-Dai as her opening Kata but was beaten 2 flags to 1 by her Slovakian
opponent. Unfortunately her opponent didn't make the final meaning Sophie had no chance of a medal through the repechage rounds.
The squads last Kata competitor was Alex Sell competing in the Boys 14-15yrs category. Alex received a bye for his first round but had no such luxuries for round two. Alex performed Nipaipo Kata and secured a second round victory securing all 3 judges flags. The next
round saw Alex perform an excellent Chatanyara Kushanku but two judges went against him on this occasion leaving him with a puzzling 2-1 loss. Alex picked himself up in the repechage round to secure the Bronze medal with a good display of Unshu. Alex's Katas were looking really
sharp and it was unfortunate that the final was contested without him this time.
The last events on Saturday with Shuhari-Kai's members participating were the Junior Male Team and Junior Male 80+Kg events featuring Lawrence Grosvenor. Lawrence had lined up one of the toughest troop of juniors all ready for action only to find out that they were
the only team entered. As they had no opposition they were graciously refunded their participation fees. Lawrence went on to compete in the Male Junior 80kg + event. He fought well in his opening round match dominating the fight but his opponent scored the solitary point of the
match and ended Lawrence's medal hopes this time round. It was nice to see Lawrence back on the mat again after his study break and I'm sure it won't be long before we see him pushing for his England squad place again.
 Saturday finished around 5:00pm for us and we
headed off back to our hotel for a wash and brush-up before heading into town for some fine cuisine. A good nights rest and back to action on Sunday morning for the remaining Kumite events to commence. Alex Sell was competing in the Boys 14-15yrs U65kg event and
weighing in at only 58kg he was not only one of the youngest in the group but also one of the lightest. Alex's opening round saw him up against the eventual winner. Alex traded Gyaks with him but came off worse nearly every time. Alex scored a Chudan Mawashigeri against him
towards the end but time ran out and Alex lost 4-3. The repechage rounds saw Alex win the 1st round 1-0 after going into extra time with the scores level at 0-0. The 2nd round had the same result as Alex threw everything at his opponent but nothing was scored until in extra
time once again. The 3rd round fight was for the bronze medal and saw Alex against a tough Egyptian opponent. Alex won that tricky encounter 1-0 to earn himself his second medal of the championships, a bronze.
Sophie Roberts was competing in Girls 14-15yrs U60kg event and her event started well for her as she received a 1st round bye. Round 2 saw Sophie take no prisoners as she stormed to a 7-1 victory. Sophie's next round, the semi-final, was a little closer but
she took the points and held off her opponent winning 2-0 to make the final. After waiting for the repechage rounds to complete, the final ensued. Sophie started brightly and was leading by the half way mark but her opponent out scored her towards the end and the match and
finished 8-3 in her opponents favour. Sophie had done really well to reach the final and earned herself a well deserved silver. Sophie then entered the Girls 14-15yrs team event with Rebecca Witt and Rio Smith. There were only 3 teams entered and the team didn't
get a bye. Sophie was the opening fighter for the team in this round and made a good start winning 7-0. Next up was Rebecca. Unfortunately she couldn't emulate Sophie's achievement and lost out 8-0. The final fighter up was Rio needing to win to secure victory. Rio made no
mistakes as stormed through taking an 8-0 to secure the teams place in the final. In a change of order, Rebecca was the first fighter for the team in the final. Rebecca fought more confidently this time and was a little unlucky to lose 5-1. Sophie was up next and needed to win
to keep the gold medal aspirations alive. Alas she couldn't out-point her opponent this time and lost 4-2 meaning Rio didn't get the chance to fight as the team had already lost 2 out of 3 fights and had to settle for silver. The girls were a little disappointed not to take the
title which shows how high they rated their chances and how much self belief they had as a team. Well done girls. Another highly expectant and confident team were the Boys 14-15yrs team of Alex Sell, James Witt and Harry Cannon. The boys
team event was well supported with lots of entries and they faced a team from Holland in the opening round. Alex went first for the team and was looking good after taking an early lead. But that lead evaporated with Alex losing 4-3 in the end. With Alex disappointed, James took
to the mat in determined mood. James was extremely unlucky as he was penalised on nearly every score as his opponent came charging onto him going for James's face but as soon as James retaliated his opponent hit the floor. James was eventually disqualified and with 2 losses,
Harry's services were not needed at this stage. They were needed in the repechage rounds as the team from Holland went on to win the event. The 1st round of repechage saw a change of order for the team as Harry took to the mat first. Harry put on a good show and fought really
well but lost out 2-1. Next up was Alex who won his match 7-0. James was last up and secured the teams victory with an impressive 6-0 win. The 2nd repechage round was for the bronze medal. Yet another change in team order saw Alex up first with Harry competing second.
Alex drew his match 1-1 and Harry once again narrowly lost out by a point losing 1-0. James was last up again and needed this win to secure a team medal. Unfortunately James lost 3-1 after having a perfectly good Jodan Mawashigeri score ruled out of time. The team had expected
to do better but it wasn't to be on this occasion. This is an awesome team in the making with the boys all looking strong and fighting well together. The thing I liked about this team is that team remained strong whatever order the fighters were placed. Well done boys and well
done to everyone who competed in this tournament. SQUAD: Lawrence Grosvenor, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell. |