JUNIOR BRITISH INTERNATIONAL KARATE OPEN 2006 – JANUARY 21^st & 22^nd

Eight junior members of the WIKF England squad, competed in the Junior British International Open at Crystal Palace.  With only a very small squad competing in the first competition of 2006, with over 700 participants from 68 teams including National teams from Belgium, Holland, France, Latvia, Norway and Luxembourg, the squad still came away with 3 Bronze medals and 6 quarter final positions. 

The competition is over two days and Saturday first saw the team events taking place.  First in action, were the boys team 14-15 years.  Alex Little teamed up with two other very experienced athletes, Alex Sell from Shuhari-Kai and James Witt from Higashi.  On paper, they team looked very strong and had a good chance of medalling but there were many other strong teams from the UK and Europe.  Alex fought first in the round 1 and drew 6-6.  With a convincing 8-0 win from James and a close 3-2 win for Alex, the team advanced to round 2 to face Ireland.  Ireland was a much stronger team that expected and Alex Little lost the first bout 7-2 to Ireland’s captain - Alex’s heaviest defeat in 3 years!!  With only James winning his bout, it meant the team were out and hoping for repocharge.  They did make repocharge and the team did well winning both rounds to Alex picked up the first Bronze Medal of the Championships.   

Next in action were the boys team 12-13 years, with Gavin Bailey, Jay Kirton and an injured Jerome Brown.  The trio did well the year before picking up the Bronze medal and again on paper the team looked very strong with two World Champions and the 2005 British Youth Champion.  All three competitors found it hard to get in to any winning mode but still got through the first round, 2 wins to 1.  In the second round, they had to face Kaizen, the team they beat to win the WIKF Nationals Championships in 2005.  Gavin Bailey fought first against Kaizen’s Captain Ben Coward and was winning 4-1 with 10 seconds to go.  Slight loss of concentration and Gavin let his lead slip when a Jodan Kick “scored”.  The bout ended 4-4.  Next to fight was Jerome, who was suffering from a groin strain.  Jerome found it difficult to move on the mats and score and was beaten 8-1.   Last to fight was Jay, who was giving away at least 6 inches to his taller opponent.  Jay needed to beat his opponent and win by a margin of at 8 points to guarantee a team win.  Jay fought well, scoring a Sanbon kick on the way and winning the bout 7-1, but it wasn’t enough to put them through as Kaizen scored more points over the 3 bouts.  The team were out and didn’t make repocharge either. 

Onto the girls 12-13 team event, with Michelle Little and Jessica Pavey, who both picked up Bronze medal the year before.   With only a two girl team, it was going to be hard getting to any medal position, but both girls performed well getting through the first two rounds.  In their quarter-final, Jessica was fighting second after Michelle won the first bout.  The bout started and her opponent came out charging.  Jessica reacted with a perfectly executed Gyakuzuki, which dropped her opponent win only 3 second on the clock gone.  Under the old rules, Jessica would have been awarded an Ippon for her perfect timing and speed.  However, her opponent was unable to continue and Jessica was given Hansoku, so the team lost.  

The final events of day were the girls individual Kumite.  With their events starting at 8.30pm, both girls had to wake up before warming up.   They fought well in their categories and got through the first two rounds but lost in the quarter-finals.  Only Michelle had repocharge but ran out of steam when fighting for the Bronze medal.  Both girls were unlucky not to medal this year, but both had a good winning record on the day, Michelle 5 wins to 1 and Jessica 4  wins to 1. 

Sunday first events were the boys 14-15 and 12-13 individuals.  Alex Little (14-15 Yrs World Champion) was flying through his category, easing his way to the quarter finals.  In his quarter-final, Alex lost to a very fast and strong opponent from Latvia, even after he scored a fantastic Sanbon kick as well as a sweeping technique.   James Townsend, competing for the first time at these Championships, did well but lost in round one.   Jay Kirton and Gavin Bailey were in action in the same weight category.  Jay looked the stronger of the two winning 5 rounds by bigger margins, scoring Sanbons and take downs on the way, but Gavin was still beating his opponents and getting through.  Semi-finals and both Ken-Bu-Kan students were still in action.  A win for both, would guarantee a Champion, but they still had work to do.  They had beaten both opponents on the circuit last year, but this was a new year and they both were beaten by just 1 point.  No champion, but 2 more Bronze medals for the squad and in the same category.  Finally, Isaac Rosen was in action in the junior 18-20 years, under 75 kilos category.  Isaac fought well getting through to the quarter finals but picked up a small injury on the way.  In his quarter-final, he narrowly lost to the eventual category winner, but fought well considering he was injured.

First competition of the year and considering that it was an International event, the squad performed well, deserving their 3 Bronze medals and very unlucky not to win many more.  Well done to the squad, who were represented by Ken-Bu-Kan students and coached by Andy Michaelides.