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Alex Sell headed off with the English Karate Federation National Junior & Cadet squad to Paris, after meeting up in St Pancras Station in London early Monday morning, 26th January 2009.
This was Alex's second time representing England in the Junior European Championships, last year in Trieste, Italy, with this years championships being held in Paris, France.
Alex was competing as a Junior and their day of competition was on the second day of the championships following on from the cadets who'd competed the day before.
Alex Sell competed in the U68kg category which boasted the largest field of these championships with 37 competitors making this a six-round event. category was split into two pools with Alex in pool 1.
Alex received a 1st round bye placing into the 2nd round - one round better than last year. The 2nd round pitted Alex against a Dutch opponent. A spirited encounter ensued with Alex scoring the only point with 30 seconds remaining on the clock and he held off
his opponent to win the fight.
The 3rd round had Alex against a Russia opponent and both fighters fought an edgy fight with neither scoring. Alex threw lots of techniques but his Russian opponent kept his distance well making things tricky for Alex. 1 minute of extra-time ensued but the
scores remained 0-0 throughout. The decision went down to the judges vote with all voting for Alex who had been the busiest taking the fight to his opponent most of the time.
The 4th round quarter-final saw Alex against a Norwegian and Alex dropped the initial point early on after both fighters went in for a 50-50 Gyakuzuki punch. Following two contact warnings, Alex gave a penalty point away to this opponent handing him a
2-0 lead. Alex pulled back one point but got caught by a Gyakuzuki punch shortly afterwards opening up a 2 point gap again. Chasing the fight in the dying seconds Alex thought he had won it following a Ura-Mawashigeri kick, but the referee overruled the judges flag handing the
match to the Norwegian with a 3-1 win.
Alex bowed out in the 4th round quarter-finals but fought really well throughout and was unlucky not to go through to the semi-final. Alex showed a great deal of improvement over last year and it's good to see he is continually improving as a fighter.
Alex would like to thank all the Shuhari-Kai members for the support they've given him and for helping to raise funds for this trip, especially to Callum Alboni and sensei Richard Burridge.
Please click HERE for photo album of Alex in Paris
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