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 Double Gold for Alex Sell, Silver & Bronze for Sophie Roberts and Bronze for Aimee Sell.
With two big tournaments on the same day, Sunday 28th November 2007, the 3rd South West Open nr
Bristol and the Toyakwai International, it was a tough decision which to go for but the 15 minute journey to the Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham in Essex swung it heavily in Toyakwai’s favour. There
was a big turn-out for this tournament with entries from Malta and Georgia present too which made the competition that much tougher.
The Kata events commenced proceedings with Aimee and Alex competing against each other in the Mixed U16yrs Dan Grade Kata event. Alex was first up on the mat and performed a
strong Chatanyara Kushanku Kata in the single Kata points scoring event. The three judges awarded him 7.6, 7.4 & 7.2 totalling 22.2. Aimee was up last and also performed Chatanyara Kushanku Kata. Aimee achieved a score of 7.4, 7.3 & 7.2 from the judges totalling 21.9. This
score left Aimee in third position overall claiming a Bronze just behind Ishinryu’s Emma Lucraft who collected Silver and older brother Alex who scooped Gold. Good result from Aimee’s point of view considering was giving away 3 years in age to the two who beat her.
Sophie had the opportunity to compete in two Kata events, the Female 16+yrs, 3rd Kyu & Over and the
Mixed Senior 3rd Kyu & Over categories. In the Female only category she performed Annan scoring 7.4, 7.0 & 7.0 from the judges totalling 21.4 which was good enough to secure her Silver. In the Mixed Senior category, Sophie performed Unshu Kata achieving a score of
7.2, 7.2 & 6.9 totalling 21.3. This left her in tied third place and she needed to perform an additional Kata for the final medal. Sophie upped her game and performed a good Annan Kata scoring 7.4, 7.3 & 7.1 totalling 21.8 which ensured she claimed her second medal of the day –
Bronze.
The Kumite events soon commenced with both Aryan Ayerman and Callum Alboni competing in the Boys 4’0’’-4’5’’, 5th Kyu & Over category. Unfortunately for the boys,
both went out in their opening rounds with Callum going down 8-0 and Aryan losing 6-0. Never mind guys, onto the next one.
The Boys 4’10’’-5’3’’, 5th Kyu & Over category had cousins Andrew and Ali Ayerman competing together too. Both boys made it passed the 1st round with Ali
winning 1-0 after his opponent pulled out injured whilst Andrew secured a comfortable 7-0 win. The 2nd round proved their undoing as both failed to make the 3rd round. Ali was comprehensively beaten getting caught on a counter attack each time he went
forward whilst Andrew lost 5-3 mainly due to warnings as he became a little hot-headed during his fight.
Next up was Alex in the Boys 5’3’’+, 5th Kyu & Over category. Alex received a 1st round bye and then eased his way into the event with 3-0 2nd round
win. The 3rd round saw Alex secure a 8-1 win and followed that up in the 4th round semi-final with a 8-3 win. The final proved very tough once again but Alex came through at the end to secure a 6-4 victory and claim his second Gold of the day. Good
preparation for Alex who flies out to Sweden on Friday 2nd Nov to compete for Wadokai England in the European Wadokai cup. Good luck.
Finally Sophie was up in the Female 16yrs+, 3rd Kyu & Over event. Sophie didn’t benefit from the judges decisions on this mat as she went out in her opening round feeling that a
lot of techniques thrown against her shouldn’t have scored. But hey, it happens - you win some, you lose some.
Well done to all the squad who attended:
Callum Alboni, Ali Ayerman, Andrew Ayerman, Aryan Ayerman, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell & Alex Sell.
Click HERE for Photo Album.
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