Twenty-one members of the WIK F England competition squad competed at the AMA Southern Open for the first time.  With only 2 weeks for the English Championships and 4 weeks to go for the European Championships in Holland, the WIKF squad was hoping for great results at these Championships.  The competition was very well organized with top referees and officials from all over the UK and all the events ran smoothly.  The squad had trained very hard throughout the summer months and the hard work paid off as the squad came away with 13 medals in total, 5Golds, 3 Silvers and 5 Bronze.

First up were the Kata events featuring Michelle Little and Jay Kirton from Ken-Bu-Kan and Suhari’s Fallon Rayman and Tegan Walsh and  in the Junior grade event.  All four competitors performed well in round one beating their opponents 3 flags to 0.  In the quarter-final Jay Kirton let his focus and concentration slip away and made a mistake in his Kata which saw him lose 3 flags to 0.  Michelle on the other hand reached the semi-final with a 2 flag to 1 win over her opponent.  In the semi-final, Michelle Kata was weaker than her opponents and she lost settling for the Bronze medal.  Fallon also did well reaching the semi-final stage to settle for the Bronze medal but Tegan Walsh lost in the quarter-final.  Danielle Duke was also in action in the peewee division but lost in the opening round.  Finally, Alex Little was in action in the senior grade event.  In the first round, Alex’s Chinto seemed flawless, but his opponent from Wales beat him 2 flags to 1.  Two Bronze medals and now onto the Kumite events.

Competing in the peewee girl’s event was Ken-Bu-Kan’s Nikkisha Bailey and Suhari’s Danille Duke.  Nikkisha was fired up and looked confident at this competition.  She had every reason to be as she beat her first 2 opponents with ease, scoring 3 Sanbons in 2 bouts.  Danille Duke was also in fine form reaching the final to face Nikkisha.  In the final, Nikkisha fought well but was unable to deal with Danielle’s height and reach and lost, settling for the Silver medal while Danielle took our first Gold medal.  Next up was Michelle Little competing in the lightweight girls division.  In the first round, Michelle quickly scored 4 points, setting herself up for victory.  However, her opponent came from behind to beat her 7-5 with no repocharge.  This was the first time that Michelle hadn’t medaled in a Kumite event in 8 competitions.  Finally Suhari’s Fallon Rayman took the mat in the light-weight girl’s event and fought well to reach the semi-final stage.  Fallon narrowly lost and settled for the Bronze medal, her second of the championships.

Next were the boys.  First to compete was Jerome Brown from Ken-Bu-Kan in the boy’s heavyweight 10-11 years event.  Jerome took the mat by storm crushing his opponents 7-1, 8-0 and 6-1.  In the final, the case was the same as Jerome out-punched and out-kicked his opponent to claim yet another title and Ken-Bu-Kan’s first Gold of the Championships.  Jerome’s brother Jay Kirton was taking part in the 12-13 light-weight division which had a line up of many British and English Champions of 2006.  Luckily for Jay, he avoided most of them as they were in the top half of the draw.  Jay slowly came through the rounds to meet his no.1 opponent on the circuit in the final, Ryan Jay from EKKA.  Jay was unable to settle down in this bout and lost, settling for the Silver medal.  Gavin Bailey was in action in the 14-15 years lightweight event.  Unfortunately, there were only 4 participants in Gavin’s event, but he made sure he was the competitor to beat but crushing both his opponent with ease to take our second Gold medal.

In the boys heavy-weight event Ken-Bu-Kan James Townsend and Alex Little were in action along with Ben Hackett from Suhari.  In round one, James fought well to level points with his opponent and scored first in extra time to advance to the quarter-finals.  In the next round, James was beaten but a much more experienced and bigger opponent, but gained even more experienced for future events.  Alex met his no.1 opponent James Witt in the first round yet again.  Both fighters fought well, even though Alex’s opponent’s control was excessive at times.  Alex lost by a 5-13 score line, but the bout was much closer than the points would assume.  Ben fought well against Alex Sell, but was forced to retire after receiving an un-controlled kick to the stomach.

In the female event, Suhari’s Paula Hogsden took the mat and did well to pick up another Bronze medal for the team.  In the male light-weight event, Gareth Waters fought superbly in the early rounds but lost in the semi-final stage to take another Bronze medal for the WIKF squad.  Finally, Isaac Rosen was in action in the male over 75 Kilos and the open event.  In both events, Isaac failed to overcome his stiff opposition and lost in the opening rounds.  3 Golds, 1 Silvers and 5 Bronze positions in the individuals, so on to the team events….

In the Boys light-weight team event, Ken-Bu-Kan’s Gavin, Jay and Jerome teamed up to face some very strong teams from EKKA and Imperial.  In the semi-final, the boys met Imperial and beat them 2 wins to 0.  In the final, they met EKKA and their anchor man Ryan Jay, who had beaten Jay Kirton in the final of the individuals.  Jerome fought first and narrowly lost to him, but Jay and Gavin fought back with great spirit to take the 2^nd and 3^rd bout to claim the first team Gold of the day.  In the heavy-weight event, Alex Little and James Townsend teamed up with Mark Hamill to face EKKA and AMA in a round robin event.  WIKF beat the AMA team 3 wins to 0, but lost to EKKA 2 wins to 1.  The AMA team then surprisingly drew with the EKKA team, which meant that WIKF took a second team Gold medal.

Finally, in the Men’s event, Isaac Rosen, teamed up with brothers Gareth Waters and Tom Waters from Suhari.  Isaac captained the team and both Isaac and Gareth fought well beating their first round opponents, to advance the team to the finals to face Wales.  In the final, the mature team from Wales showed great strength, experience and determination to overpower the young WIKF team.  The team fought well but had to settle for the Silver medal - the last of the day.  

 

A good outing at the AMA Championships and great results and preparation for the all important English Championships and the 2006 European Championships in Holland.

Danielle Duke and Nikkisha Bailey	Michelle Little and Fallon Rayman
Gavin Bailey	Jerome Brown
Mens Team	WIKF Squad
Heavy Weight Boys Team	Light Weight Boys Team