Design by: Mark Thomas
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British Youth Championships |
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FOUR NEW BRITISH CHAMPIONS FOR THE WIKF JUNIOR SQUAD, WHO FINISHED 3RD IN THE MEDAL TABLE The biggest ranking competition in the UK saw the biggest wins for the WIKF Junior squad. The WIKF team coached by Andy Michaelides (Ken-Bu-Kan) and Kevin McAuslan-Crine (Su-Ha-Ri) along with parents and supporters traveled to Sheffield for the weekend, to once again compete in the British Open Championships. Competing against the top junior athletes from the UK, Wales, Scotland and Ireland the WIKF team had to also battle against the extreme heat conditions, no air-condition or lack of fresh air, which caused many of them to suffer from heat exhaustion and dehydration. The squad dug in deep, showed great spirit and came away with 4 new British Champions and 4 bronze medallists, as well as a semi-final and quarterfinal position. Even though many of the competitors hadn’t competed at this level before, eight out of the eleven participants reached the medal positions. This year, the squad chose to concentrate on the Kumite events and did not enter the Kata categories, which took place first on the Saturday. In the early afternoon James Phillips from Ken-Bu-Kan, who was the silver medallist last year took to the mat in the 8-9 years category. James weighing only 28 Kgs, was entered in the under 30 Kgs event, but due to low entrees in his category the light-weight division was merged with the middle-weights who weighing up to 40 Kgs. Despite, giving away masses of height and weight, James easily got in to his winning rhythm, getting past his first three opponents. In the semi-final, James was leading the bout but gave away a penalty late in the bout and was unable to recover the points lost to make his second in two years. James came through strong in repocharge to take the Bronze medal, the first for the team. Triplets Chloe and Tegan Walsh from Su-Ha-Ri were both competing in the same weight category. Tegan lost narrowly in the first round to the eventual finalist, and fought on in the repacharge system, coming through both rounds to take another Bronze medal for WIKF, the second of the day. Chloe showed superb spirit and technique to get through numerous rounds to the final. After a short wait, Chloe took the mat and beat her opponent to take our first Gold medal of the Championships and become British Champion for 2006. The third triplet, Kane Walsh was competing in the boys 8-9 years heavyweight division. Kane showed great strength and determination, and battled through to the final. After another short break, Kane met his opponent in the final and beat him in the last few seconds to take another Gold medal, the second for WIKF. Ken-Bu-Kan’s Michelle Little and Jay Kirton were both in action in the 12-13 years event. Michelle was in the middleweight division and started well winning her first two bouts. In round 2, Michelle picked up an injury to her ankle from an off target, which affected her movement and kicking ability. In the quarterfinals, Michelle was leading the way, before her opponent scored a Sanbon, taking the lead from Michelle. A last attack from Michelle, but it was all over. In repocharge, Michelle’s injury hindered her movement and was unable to over-come her opponent to pick up the bronze medal. Jay Kirton was also doing well, in a category, which had over 60 competitors across two pools. Jay produced some impressive victories against taller opponents, scoring Sanbon kicks and take down techniques. Jay eventually won the pool final and waited patiently for his opponent to emerge from pool B. Jay’s final opponent was from Shindo Kai and with his impressive wins and confidence from his earlier bouts, Jay started the final scoring first and taking the lead. The bout was even to the last second, which ended a draw. Jay stayed composed and focus and scored first in extra time to be British Champion and take WIKF’s third Gold of the competition. Day 1 over, a quarterfinal, two Bronze medals and 3 British Champions for the 5 athletes competing!!!! Day 2, saw the team events in action first. In the 8-9 boys, James Phillips and Cain Walsh were in action but only as a two-man team. Having such a huge disadvantage would be difficult for the team who lost in the semi-finals, but still picked up the Bronze medal in the repocharge beating the opposition very comfortably. A great achievement for James and Kane taking two medals this year. In the 14-15 boys, Alex Little and James Townsend from Ken-Bu-Kan teamed up with Robert Eley from UKKW to face the AMA “A” team in the first round. Alex fought first and was leading 2-0 before his opponent scored a Sanbon in the final second, costing the team the first bout. Robert Eley fought second winning his bout 2-0. Finally, James Townsend fought and needed to win his bout to take them through to round 2. After leading for most of the bout, slight lapse of concentration and his opponent take the lead with only seconds on the clock. A last attack but it was too late. The AMA team lost in the early rounds and therefore the WIKF team did not have an opportunity to fight for the Bronze medal. Finally, the individual events for the 10-11 and 14-15 years. Ken-Bu-Kan’s World Champions Alex Little and Gavin Bailey were both competing in the boys lightweight division 14-15 years, whilst Jerome Brown was defending his title in the boys middleweight 10-11 years. Neither Alex or Gavin were performing to their maximum ability but both still managed to get to the semi-finals position beating many experienced athletes on the way. In Gavin’s semi-final, he was under pressure but stay composed to take the lead in his bout against a very inexperienced an unorthodox fighter. Gavin’s lead slipped away and he was unable to recover in time. Unfortunately, Gavin also picked up an injury and was unable to go through the repocharge system to compete for the bronze. Alex’s semi-final opponent was relatively easy as he beat him 10-0, scoring 2 perfect take-downs and a Sanbon kicking technique to go one step further than last year, when he picked up the bronze. In the final, Alex faced the competitor who beat Gavin in the semis. Alex’s vast experience was evident and his tactics paid off beating his opponent with ease to take the Gold medal, crowing him British Champion for 2006. Jerome Brown, who was the British Champion in 2005, was also under-performing and unable to get in to his winning stride, losing at the quarterfinal stage. Even though Jerome was disappointed with his loss, he stayed focus and managed to beat his two opponents in repacharge to take another Bronze medal for the team. Finally, James Townsend and Robert Eley were in action competing for the first time at the British Championships in the boys heavyweight division. James began well, but was unable to deal with his Scottish opponent’s speed and experience and lost in the first round. Robert Eley also fought well, but lost in the first round to a very experienced opponent. Day 2 over, a semifinal position, another bronze medal and a forth British Champion!!! The results and performances of all the WIKF competitors were noticed by Wayne Otto, OBE (9 x World Champion and England National Coach). He applauded the achievements of the squad, who picked up 4 Golds and 4 Bronze medals, placing the WIKF team 3rd in the medal table, just behind EKKA and KMAC, two associations with considerable larger squads who also took part in the Kata events. A successful weekend for the WIKF Junior team, who now focus on the 2006 European Championships taking place in Holland.
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Copyright
2005 Tatsuo Suzuki