Sunday 2nd July was another scorching day and where better to spend it than down by the coast, Clacton to be precise. The only problem was that rather than being on the beach splashing around on the seashore,
building sand castles and eating ice cream, six Shuhari-Kai Karate Club students chose to spend the day at Clacton Leisure Centre competing in the Toyakwai Essex Open Karate Championships. The small squad of six, Callum Alboni, Jade Lewis, Billie Lowry, Shane Mitchell, Aimee
Sell and Alex Sell showed great attitude and spirit at this tournament and were rewarded with six trophies between them for their two gold, two silver and two bronze placings.
The Kata events were first and as ever at this tournament, the Kata was judged by a single Kata being performed with three judges each awarding a score for the Kata performance. The placings of each event was determined by the overall
score achieved by the competitors.
Callum Alboni competed in the Mixed Under 16ys, 6-4th Kyu category and aged only 7 years old, he was up against some much older opponents. Callum performed Pinan Nidan and scored 6.9, 6.8 & 6.8
from the three judges totalling 20.5. This left Callum mid table and out of the medal placings this time. Also competing in this category was 8 year old Billie Lowry. Like Callum she was at a huge age disadvantage but still did her best to do well. Billie performed a
lovely Pinan Sandan with some great Shiko-Dachi stances and scored the same as Callum, 6.9, 6.8 & 6.8 from the three judges totalling 20.5. Her score was on the low side and I believe it should have been a bit higher. They both did well and they love competing even when the
odds are stacked against them but that doesn’t put them off and that shows great spirit. They are improving all the time and they’ve certainly got time on their side.
The Mixed Under 16yrs, 3-1st Kyu category had three of the squad competing, Shane Mitchell, Jade Lewis and Aimee Sell. Shane was called up first and performed Nipaipo Kata. Shane scored
6.9, 7.0 & 7.0 from the three judges totalling 20.9. That score was to leave Shane out of the final medal positions on this occasion. Jade was soon in action following a number of opponents and like Shane earlier, chose to perform Nipaipo Kata. Jade scored an impressive 7.2,
7.2 & 7.1 from the three judges totalling 21.5 leaving her in medal contention at that stage. Last (or almost last, can’t remember) to compete was Aimee Sell who has just turned 11 years old. One of the youngest in this category, she achieved the biggest score by a
whopping 0.4 margin. Aimee performed Annan Kata and impressed the judges enough for them to award her Gold by scoring her 7.4, 7.4 & 7.3 totalling 22.1 blowing away her nearest rivals. This now left Jade tied in bronze medal position and she had to perform an additional
Kata against her tied opponents. Jade performed Bassai-Dai and scored 7.2, 7.1 & 6.8 totalling 21.1 which was enough to give her joint Bronze. Well done girls and unlucky Shane.
The final Kata competitor was British Kata champion Alex Sell competing in the Mixed U16yrs, Dan Grade (Black Belt) category. Alex was the last to compete in this category (remembered that) and chose to perform Unshu Kata (He said
the mat area looked a little small for some of his other Kata). Alex scored 7.4, 7.4 & 7.3 from the three judges which gave him a total score of 22.0 leaving him to snatch the Gold with the last Kata performance in the category. Another excellent Kata performance from
Alex who’s really hit form recently and continues his Kata wining streak.
Following the completion of the Kata events, the Kumite events commenced. The Boys Under 4’0’’ category saw Callum in action again. There were only three competitors in the category which meant he was guaranteed a medal. Callum put
on a good show in his semi-final match but he couldn’t score against his opponent and finally lost out 2-0. Callum collected his Bronze with his usual smile (must lose that when he’s fighting J)
and made the most sensible decision of the day – beach time and off he went. Hope you enjoyed yourself Callum, well done.
Billie competed in the Girls U16yrs, 4’0’’ to 4’10’’ category. There were four competitors in this category competing for the medal, all at least guaranteed to come away with some reward for their efforts.
Billie was determined to at least make the final and she did so in a keenly fought match. Billie’s opponent began aggressively throwing techniques at Billie but failing to score. Billie then opened up with her combination kicks and punches to open up a lead. Billie
finally took the match 4-0 to make the final as she’d hoped. The final saw Billie up against an older and more experienced opponent who managed to pick her off easing to a 8-0 win leaving Billie to settle for Silver. Although being hurt and losing out in the final, she
didn’t let her emotions get the better of her and showed great character. Well done.
The Boys U16yrs, 4’10’’ to 5’3’’ category saw Shane back in action. Shane looked in good form in his opening round match and eased to victory with a 4-1 win with his lightning fast Gyakuzuki counter punches. The next round saw
Shane drop a couple of points early on and then he upped his game and started to come back. As he went for the points he got caught and lost more ground. In an attempt to close the deficit Shane landed two, maybe three, Jodan Ura-Mawashigeri kicks, all not scored due to a light
touch according to the referee. Shane was annoyed to lose out 5-2 in the end in a match he clearly dominated and expected to win. Can’t really fault Shane with what he did, just once again unlucky. Just keep plugging away you know your time will come.
The Girls U16yrs, 4’10’’ to 5’3’’ category saw the return of Jade to action. Jade started a little slow but eventually got going whilst she tried to use the mat more to avoid being caught by her opponent. Unfortunately she just
couldn’t score against her opponent who was to strong on this occasion and eventually lost her opening round 8-0.
Alex was competing in the Boys U16yrs, 5’3’’ and Over category. Alex started well and secured an opening round victory with a 3-0 win. The 2nd round saw Alex in a closer match but Alex came
though it to win 2-1. Alex went down to an early point but two successive Gyakuzuki punches gave the lead and match to Alex. The semi-final round saw the match go into extra time with the scores tied at 0-0. Alex was the first to the punch on this occasion and went through to
the final. Alex started the final brightly and in dominating fashion. Fairly early on during the course of the final with the scores at 0-0, Alex made a sweeping move on his opponent who went down badly and injured his leg. Alex was eventually disqualified from the match and
awarded with Silver.
The small squad did well especially with the young ones showing great attitude and spirit. Well done to everyone who competed here. |
