|
 Shuhari-Kai had two students travel to Walsall in the West Midlands to compete in the CEWKA Central England Karate Championships which were held on Sunday 13th July 2008. Sophie Roberts and
Alex Sell who had both successful outings the week before competing in the Toyakwai Capital Open Championships in Clacton where they came home with a clutch of trophies each, were up for another challenge and looking to maintain their excellent performances. Alex's
sister Aimee was also in attendance but the former Shuhari-Kai student has now switched clubs to represent Ishinryu. The competition was being hosted by CEWKA Chief Instructor Stennett Harvey who is also the Wadokai England junior squad coach, and as we now know Stennett
through Wadokai England, we were happy to support this event for the first time. The attendance at the competition was quite large which was one of the factors why we didn't actually get away till gone 8:00pm. There were plenty of club level competitors in attendance and some
familiar faces there too not only from national level tournaments but from England squad members making the standard of competition quite wide ranging.
The Kata events were being held first with the individual events first followed by pairs and then teams. Alex had entered into the Male Senior Kata and started off well winning his opening round 3 flags to nil following his Bassai-Dai Kata. The second round
saw Alex pitied against England No.1 Jonathan Mottram. Alex pulled out all the stops with his Suparimpei Kata but he couldn't match Jonathan's speed, power etc and wasn't surprised to lose 3-0. Jonathan went on to win the individual Kata and to be quite honest was miles above
the rest of the field - including Alex.
Alex was entered into the Senior Kata Pairs event which was held shortly after the individual event. Alex's pairs partner was Jonathan Mottram. They both only had a couple of training sessions together having entered into this event for fun but now the
pressure to perform well was on. They were drawn against the very good synchronised brother and sister pairing from Shitoryu Karate Academy, Simon and Clare Bonello, in their first round and therefore opted to perform their strongest Kata, Suparimpei. Simon and Clare performed
Bassai-Dai very well but Alex and Jonathan just nipped it 2 flags to 1. The next round was the semi-final and they faced Ishinryu brother pairing, Mike and Chris Wilson. Alex and Jonathan performed Bassai-Dai really well and won the match 3 flags to nil. The final saw them face
another Ishinryu pairing, Samantha Cannon and Rachael Bramley. They had practiced together before hand and it showed in their performance of Annan Kata which took the decision 3 flags to nil over Alex and Jonathan's Seienchin Kata leaving Alex and Jonathan to collect Silver.
Whilst the Senior Pairs Kata event was taking place, Alex's Kumite event, the Male 16-19yrs Open was taking place. They did hold Alex's fights until he had finished the Kata Pairs so he was at a slight disadvantage as he hadn't had the opportunity to watch
any of his opponents. Undeterred Alex started well winning his opening fight 6-0. The next round saw Alex carry on his good form winning his fight 4-0. The semi-final pitted Alex against England team mate Adam Francis. This proved a much closer tighter fight but Alex came out
on top on this occasion winning 3-1 to make the final. The final proved another tough fight but Alex's greater speed proved the difference as he won the match 2-0 to claim Gold.
Meanwhile, as Sophie still sat on the bench waiting for her individual Kumite event to start, the Male Senior Team event was called. Alex was the guest team member competing along side Alan and Albert with the team already securing an opening round bye.
Alan was no.1 fighter in the next round but lost his opening fight 4-0. Up next Albert levelled the match by taking a narrow win 1-0 leaving Alex to secure the team win. Alex didn't let his team down as he secured a 6-0 win to seal the team victory to put hem into the final.
The final once again saw Alan fight first for the team but once again the opening fight went against the team. Fighting second was Albert and he turned it round to level the match once again winning his fight 3-2. Alex was the final fighter and his 3-0 win secured the overall
team victory and Gold.
Finally Sophie's individual Kumite event, the Female Senior 16yrs & Over category, got underway. After receiving a 1st round bye, Sophie started her campaign off in style securing an 8-0 win. The next round saw Sophie's impressive form continue as she once
again secured an 8-0 win to see her comfortably into the next round. The semi-final saw Sophie drop her first point but the 5 she secured herself easily saw her into the final to face Senior England member Sarah Donnelly. Sophie started well and took the initial lead but Sarah
fought back and used her experience to secure the win. Nonetheless Sophie did well to only just lose 4-2 to an England Senior squad member securing Silver for herself.
Sophie, like Alex, was then the team guest in the Female Senior Team event teaming up with Nicole Taylor and Sarah Donnelly. Nicole fought first but lost the opening match leaving Sarah needing to secure a win to tie the match. Sarah did well securing a 5-0
win to leave the match in Sophie's hands. Sophie fought excellently once more to secure a 8-0 win and see the team progress into the finals. The final saw Sophie fight first this time and in a very close match which was even all the way through, Sophie lost out in the final
seconds as her opponent secured a narrow 5-4 win. Sarah fought next and like Sophie lost out in the final second of the fight as her opponent scored a Sanbon off the line when there was only 1 second left on the clock. Oh well, sometimes you don't get the decisions. The girls
settled for team Silver but all fought well and did themselves proud. Sophie is back to looking very good in Kumite once again and is becoming a real force to be reckoned with. Well done.
Sophie and Alex finally came away with 2 Golds and 3 Silvers between them. Aimee secured a Kata Silver for herself beaten 2 flags to 1 in her final against Ishinryu team mate Emma Lucraft.
|