 Havering Boys and Girls Karate teams secured the ‘double’ as they both triumphed at the London Youth Games at Crystal Palace National Sports Stadium on Sunday 10th
June 2007. Havering Karate coach, Richard Burridge, had great difficulty in selecting his squad of 10 boys and 10 girls to represent Havering, due to the strength of depth and quality of availability but after careful consideration the final squad
selection proved spot-on as both boys and girls teams romped home triumphant winners.
For the girls team, this was their third win in as many years proving they are one of the strongest and most consistent Karate teams in London in recent times. Every member of the team bar one made it onto the
podium. What’s more impressive is that they had to compete one member short as poor Stephanie Thorndick, an integral member of the squad, had to pull out due to Chicken Pox. The remaining girls put in that extra effort into
their spirited performances to ensure Stephanie’s absence wasn’t crucial. We wish Stephanie all the best. The boys team, having just missed out in runner-up position in the last few years finally got their team firing on all cylinders as they cleaned
up with all but two members on the podium, the other two securing 5th positions just outside the medals.
So let’s take a look at the teams and how things unfolded starting with the Girls ‘Hatrick’ Squad.
Girls Team
Kata School Years 6-9 – Aimee Sell - SILVER
This was Aimee’s first attempt at the Youth Games and was extremely excited about representing her Borough. Being only 11 years old, she was one of the youngest competitors in this group but proved she’s top of her game. Aimee had a 1st
round bye and so had only one WKF compulsory Kata to complete for her 2nd round where she chose to perform Bassai-Dai. Her opponent’s Jion failed to make the grade as she was disqualified leaving Aimee with victory. The 3rd
round saw Aimee perform Nipaipo Kata and secure a 3 flags to 0 win. The semi-final round saw Aimee secure another 3-0 win to make the final following her Annan Kata display. The final was switched to five judges and Aimee
found herself up against her good friend and training pal, Rachel Newey representing Kingston. Both girls, who have recently performed team Kata together, chose to perform Chatanyara Kushanku
but Rachel took a close win with a 3 flags to 2 decision leaving Aimee to claim the squad’s first medal of the day – SILVER.
Kata School Years 10-12 – Emma Lucraft – GOLD
This was Emma’s first Youth Games competing in the Kata event and having recently established herself as one of the best Kata competitors in her age group she was chosen to represent the borough on this occasion. Like Aimee in her event,
Emma was one of the youngest to compete in this category presently residing in Year 10 at school. Emma received a 1st round bye and her 2nd round was just as quick as her opponent failed to show with Emma being automatically awarded the match. The 3rd round saw Emma perform
Annan Kata and win the match 3 flags to 0. The semi-final pitted Emma against one of the pre-tournament favourites, Sophie Wise. Emma performed a flawless Chatanyara Kushanku to convincingly win
the round 3-0. The five-judge final had Emma against another pre-tournament favourite, Croydon's Rio Smith. Emma performed Unshu Kata and captured every judges vote winning the event with a 5-0 win to claim GOLD without
dropping a single flag throughout the event. Emma's on fire!
Kumite 30-40kg – Lucy Peppercorn – 1st Round
Having won her event last year, Lucy was in confident mood but her confidence took a blow as she suffered an 8-0 shock defeat in her opening round match. Lucy’s opponent failed to make the finals too compounding her defeat as she was
excluded from the repechage rounds and her medal hopes were dashed.
Kumite 45-50kg - Emma Lucraft - GOLD
Buoyed up by her Kata gold, Emma was keen to strike gold once more or at least make the podium to give the girls team those vital points. Emma was straight to business in her opening round fight securing a 3-1 win
to take her into round two. The 2nd round was her semi-final match and she had a much closer match to make the final but she came through to secure a narrow 1-0 win. The final followed the repechage rounds and Emma stepped up a gear as she opened up
a substantial lead and saw out a 4-0 win to secure her second GOLD and more importantly another 10 points for the girls team. Excellent performance from Emma.
Kumite 50-55kg - Sophie Richardson - SILVER, Jodie Miles – BRONZE
This event saw two Havering girls competing, both at different ends of the draw though which was good for the team. Jodie Miles and Sophie Richardson are both regular competitors and regular medal winners so both girls were expecting to do
well. Jodie had a 1st round bye whilst Sophie was straight into action securing a narrow 1-0 win to see her into the next round. The 2nd round saw Jodie in a tough match as her opponent took the lead before Jodie battled back to level the score at 7-7. Then Jodie dropped a few
points before her opponent gained a few extra as both girls got a little aggressive with Jodie being penalised more so. The match finished 14-7 against Jodie but she did have the chance to enter repechage rounds after. Sophie's 2nd round match was much less dramatic as she
eased her way to a 4-0 win. Sophie's semi-final round saw her seal another victory without dropping a solitary point as her 3-0 score was enough to see her into the final. The repechage rounds commenced first with Jodie keen to make up for her earlier disappointment. Jodie made
no mistakes this time as she dominated her opponent winning the round 4-1 to see her into the repechage final. Jodie had now obviously settled into a comfortable rhythm as she stormed to a stunning 10-0 win in her final match to claim a well deserved BRONZE. Sophie's final
proved to be a real nail-biter as the scores were tied at 1-1 at full time. 30 seconds of extra time couldn't separate the girls and so it went to the judges and referee's decision. Unfortunately, somewhat bizarrely, the vote went 3-1 against Sophie leaving her with SILVER but
it could have gone either way. Unlucky Sophie but well done girls on gaining more medals.
Kumite 55-60kg - Hayley Bremnar - BRONZE
Haley made a great start in her opening round fight as she stormed to an impressive 8-0 and looked in good form to go all the way to the final. Unfortunately Hayley came up against Croydon's Rio Smith in the next round who had to be the pre-match favourite in this event.
Hayley put in a great determined effort but couldn't find her way past Rio's defence and finally lost out 4-0. As expected Rio made the final allowing Hayley entry into the repechage rounds. With only one repechage round to negotiate for bronze, Hayley made no mistakes as she
eased her way to a podium finish with a 4-0 score line securing herself BRONZE and the team those valuable extra points.
Kumite 60-65kg - Sophie Roberts - GOLD
Being team captain always carries that little extra pressure but Sophie bore it extremely well as she showed no signs of pressure caming from behind to win her opening round match 9-4. It looked like things may have gone against Sophie as her opponent suffered an injury with
2 seconds left on the clock. But Her opponent couldn't carry on and the match was awarded to Sophie much to the relief of her coach and supporters. The semi-final round proved less eventful as Sophie easily picked off her opponent to win comfortably by 8-0. Following a brief
delay for the repechage rounds, Sophie was soon in the final fighting for glory knowing that she was the penultimate fighter for the girls team and it was crucial that maximum points were gained. Well Sophie didn't disappoint as she looked in total control of the match to ease
her way onto the podiums top spot by claiming GOLD with a 6-2 win. Watch out the bandit is back!
Kumite Over 65kg - Francessca Gambleton - BRONZE
Francessca was lucky enough to have an opening round bye but the 2nd round proved to be a real scrap. In a hard and close match Francessca came out on top beating her opponent by a single point winning 5-4. If she though that round was tough, the next was even tougher.
Francessca managed to close a 3 point deficit with a lovely Jodan Mawashigeri kick but it was enough to win the match as her opponent scored 2 more points to take the win 5-3 against Francessca. As her winning opponent made the final, Francessca had the opportunity to go for
bronze in the repechage match. Francessca put her disappointment behind her stormed her way to a BRONZE medal winning the match 10-2 to add a final flurry of points onto the overall points total for the girls. Well done Francessca.
Now al the girls had to do was wait for the medal presentation to see if they had managed to retain their team crown as they finished with 3 GOLD, 2 SILVER and 3 BRONZE medals.
The Boys Team
Kata School Years 6-9 – Mark Hansford – BRONZE
Mark did extremely well in his first Youth Games Kata event and was unlucky to just miss out on the final. Mark received a 1st round bye and performed Bassai-Dai as his WKF compulsory Kata in the 2nd round. Make did well as secured a 3 flags
to 0 win. The 3rd round saw Mark perform Annan Kata and once again a solid performance meant he secured another 3-0 win. Mark was extremely unlucky in the semi-final as he came up against Kingston's Jack Newey who also has trained with Mark and is also extremely talented. Mark
performed Chatanyara Kushanku Kata and it was a close thing but Jack took the narrow win 2-1 leaving Mark one more Kata to perform in the repechage final for a bronze medal. Mark made no mistakes as he got back to winning ways securing a 3-0 once again with a faultless display
of Unshu. The boys teams first medal - BRONZE - was secured by Mark who got them off to a good start.
Kata School Years 10-12 –Alex Sell – GOLD
Having won the 6-9 school yrs Kata category the year before, Alex was looking to make the jump successfully into the higher 10-12 school yrs event. Although Alex was the oldest of the Boys team members, he was only now eligible for this
event and has another possible two years at this level. Even so he was one of four or five from a strong group who would possibly win this event. Alex received a 1st Round bye and was ready to perform Bassai-Dai in round two. However a ‘No-show’ meant he was awarded
match and entry into the quarter-finals without having to perform yet. The 3rd round finally saw Alex in action as he performed his Annan Kata to good effect winning the round 3-0. The semi-finals saw Alex against a close friend and
training pal, Harry Cannon, who was amongst one of the top four in this group. Harry chose to perform Unshu Kata and Alex chose Chatanyara Kushanku Kata. A close call but the judges went with
Alex on this occasion giving him a 3-0 win to make the final. The five-judge final saw Alex against another of the pre-tournament favourites, Redbridge’s James Cornish. Alex up first performed Suparimpei whilst James up next performed
Unsu. Alex took an even closer decision 3 flags to 2 to claim the Boys squad first GOLD of the day.
Kumite 30-40kg - Jack Hayter - 5th
Things started well for one of the pre-match favourite, Jack, as he received a 1st round bye who then followed this up by securing a 4-0 win in his 2nd round match. Uncharacteristically Jack lost out in the 3rd round who's form had just deserted him at the wrong time.
Jack's opponent did make the final but Jack fail to capitalise on his repechage opportunity as he lost out 4-0 in his semi-final repechage match leaving Jack in 5th place overall.
Kumite 40-45kg – Mark Hansford – GOLD, Jordan Hodge - BRONZE
The emergence of little Psycho! Some say you need a cool head and temperament to win, some say you need fire in your belly with dogged determination – Mark fell into the latter category here as he fought and battled his way to gold refusing
to be beaten, never giving up and nearly blowing it along the way too. Mark received an opening round bye and then had a 'No show' in the 2nd round to make the quarter-finals. The 3rd round finally saw Mark get stuck in as he fought his way to a convincing 6-1 victory giving
his opponent very little scoring opportunities. The semi-final was very close with the scores tied at 1-1 at full time. 30 seconds of extra time couldn't separate the boys as the decision went down to the judges and referee. Mark's aggression proved to be the difference as he
was awarded the match 3 votes to 1. The final was held following the repechage rounds which saw team mate Jordan Hodges in action. Jordan had a close 1st round match but managed to sneak a point towards the end which allowed him to win the match 1-0. The 2nd round saw Jordan
narrowly miss out as he lost his fight 4-2 to an opponent who made it all the way to the final to face Mark later on. Jordan was keen to make up for his loss in the repechage event and secured a 4-0 win the land himself in the repechage final. Going for a medal position Jordan
made sure it was his to claim as he beat his opponent to a narrow 2-1 victory. claiming a squad BRONZE. Mark was determined to make up for missing out on Kata gold and really took the fight to his opponent. At 6-0 with a few seconds on the clock, his opponent fell to the floor.
Mark didn’t back off to see out time, oh no, Mark was straight in there to finish off his opponent with a kick to his head as he went down. It looked like Mark failed to make contact but his opponent thought otherwise and called for medical attention. Unable to carry on after a
few minutes of treatment it looked like disqualification for Mark but the referee obviously didn’t think Mark made any contact either and awarded Mark the match and GOLD number two for the team and Mark’s second medal of the day to boot. Good result from both boys here.
Kumite 45-50kg - George Hayter - SILVER, Chris Karwasinski - 5th
Both Chris and George were competing together here for the squad and Chris was unlucky in his opening round match getting a tough draw and narrowly losing out 1-0 to Barking & Dagenham's Conor Lynn who went on to make the final. Chris did get a chance at repechage and was
once again extremely unlucky. With the scores tied at 3-3 following extra time the decision went to the judges. Although Chris made all the running instigating nearly all of the attacks, the vote went against him 3-1 leaving him in 5th place overall. George fared better as she
secured a good opening round win 4-0. The semi-final round saw George once again secure a 4 point winning margin this time winning 5-1 to make the final. The final saw George pitted against Connor and it was a very cagey affair with both boys throwing very few techniques both
not wanting to give anything away. Understandably the match ended in stalemate with neither scoring even after extra time. The dreaded vote once again and once again it went against Havering 3-1 leaving George to settle for SILVER.
Kumite 50-55kg - Steven Karwasinski - SILVER
Chris's brother Steven was in action on the mat next to him as he made his bid for glory in the next category above. Steven received a 1st round bye and had a close 2nd round match coming from behind to steal the win 4-3 in the dying seconds. The semi-final match proved just
as nail-biting as he once again came from behind to seal victory by a single point margin once again, this time the score being 2-1. Steven's good run came to an end in the final as he dropped 2 points in the match and couldn't find the techniques to come from behind once more
finally losing out 2-0. Steven did secure a SILVER medal which was a great result in what turned out to be a pretty tough group. Well done Steven.
Kumite 60-65kg – Alex Sell – GOLD
The last of the squad to compete on the day and full attention from everyone – no pressure then. Alex received a 1st round bye in this event but quickly got warmed up in the 2nd round as he stormed to a commanding 8-0
win. The semi-finals saw Alex have a tougher fight but he secured a good 3-0 to make the final. The final soon commenced following the repechage rounds. Alex was in determined mood and eased his way into a dominant 7-0 lead but gave away a point on a
warning to end the match 7-1 and another GOLD to add to the teams collection. What can we say, team captain and double gold, probably the best all-round male Karate competitor in his age group in the country.
Kumite 65-70kg – George Gambleton – BRONZE
George made a remarkable comeback to claim a podium spot after being out of Karate for 10 months following a hand injury. George has been out of training for a while with exams and hasn’t competed for nearly a year but he made no excuses
determined to let his Karate do the talking and was eager to pick up the mantle and continue where he left off – representing his borough. Taking time off for exams is one thing, but being out injured for so long and still medalling was incredible. George's opening round was
close as he settled back into the swing of things finding his range again but both fighters finished level on 3 points each at the end of normal time. Another 30 of extra time was commenced and unfortunately George was caught out and lost the decisive first point losing the
match 4-3 in the end. However, George had the chance to redeem himself in the repechage rounds and he made up for his earlier disappointment by securing a more comfortable 4-1 in his repechage match. George's next match was for bronze and he made sure he didn't miss out as he
held on to a decisive 2--0 to secure the win and the BRONZE medal. Well done George and welcome back.
The boys finished with 3 GOLD, 2 SILVER and 3 BRONZE medals matching the girls tally with two extra 5th places also scoring them extra vital points towards their tally.
Following the medal presentations the overall team positions were announced and news that we all wanted to hear... Girls team 1st place Havering, Boys team 1st place Havering.
Both Girls and Boys teams are still young, with Alex and George G. the eldest boys with Sophie Roberts and Francessca the oldest girls competing for Havering. No one was competing in their last year for these games which bodes well for next year. As mentioned earlier there
is a wealth of talent available for Havering with lots of other competitors knocking on the team door. Unfortunately not everyone could be accommodated this time round and we may see a few tweaks to the squad next year allowing one or two new faces the chance to compete but for
now the future looks bright.
We have to mention that Sophie Roberts, Sophie Richardson & Fancessca have been doing all their GCSE's and Alex, George G, George H, Emma and Jodie and Haley have taken early maths Science and English GCSEs. For everyone
(or probably most people competing) they are all going through the same dilemma with juggling training, competing, school work and exams so to answer the call to train and represent your borough is a major testament to their spirit, pride and honour.
It may be worth noting too that all the Kata winners, and a lot of the Kata medallists too were part of Mottrams Marauders clearly establishing Jonathan Mottram as the best Kata coach in London if not the country. Well done Jonathan and especially
borough coach Richard Burridge who had the biggest smile on his face I've ever seen. Richard Burridge,Havering Coach, would like to thank all the students who participated in the London Youth Games. Richard would also like to thank, Moira Barba Ishinryu, Mike Farmer
Seemaf Toyakwai and Jonathan Mottram Ishinryu for letting their students participate in the Havering Games and the London Youth Games.
Also have to mention Shuhari-Kai's Shane Mitchell who represented Barking & Dagenham on both Kata and Kumite. Shane claimed a bronze in Kumite so well done Shane.
NEW - London Youth Games Photos
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