Varsity Match 2007

The Varsity Match is an annual competition between the karate clubs of Cambridge and Oxford Universities. In the match, which is usually held in February, two men's teams and a women's team from each university compete in kata, team kata and kumite for the three team titles and the overall trophy, the Enoeda Cup.

Winners of the Enoeda Cup 2007: Cambridge

Team results:

• Men's A: Cambridge
• Men's B: Cambridge
• Women's: Cambridge

Coming back from three years of defeat, Cambridge University Karate Club completed a total whitewash of Oxford in this year's Varsity Match last Saturday.

The match kicked off with the kata competition. Strong performances from Simon Picot and Tom Johnson won both the A and B team competitions. This significant points advantage was topped off by two fantastic team kata performances from both the men's A and B teams. The Cambridge women were initially put on the back foot by a number of experienced Oxford girls, but a superb team kata by Madeleine Wood, Charlie Gray and Libby Boyd edged Cambridge in front before the fighting half of the competition.

However, Oxford were still dangerous, even when behind. But Steph McTighe opened the fighting for the Cambridge women against the Oxford captain and McTighe's skilled, strong fighting overpowered the much more experienced Oxford fighter to record a vital first win for Cambridge. This was followed by a win for Gray, and in the second round of fighting McTighe, Gray and Wood all won to complete a fantastic victory for the women's team. Ian MacLeod, Cambridge's Captain, was up first for the men's A team against the Oxford captain and comfortably out-fought him to get the men off to a great start. This was followed by wins for Nick Worth and Tom Johnson before Paul Smith rounded off the first round of fighting with the move of the match, surging forward he knocked his opponent's front hand down and, with lightening speed, scored a perfect punch to the face, rewarded with an ippon (full point). The superiority of the Cambridge side was now truly apparent and the men's B team confidently defeated the Oxford B team with wins for Tom Auld, Gareth Bradley and Thomas Holroyd. The match finished with the second round of fighting for the men's A team, who controlled every bout resulting in a 9-1 thrashing of the Oxford fighters. The final scores saw a clean sweep of Cambridge victories, the men's A team winning 102-28, men's B team 90-40, and women's team 60-42.

Women's kata (Adrienne, Libby, Madeleine, Charlie)
Cambridge 30 - 24 Oxford
Women's kumite (Steph, Charlie, Libby, Madeleine)
Cambridge 30 - 18 Oxford
Women's overall
Cambridge 60 - 42 Oxford

Men's A kata (Paul, Tom A, Simon, Ian, Nicholas)
Cambridge 48 - 22 Oxford
Men's A kumite (Ian, Kai, Nick W, Tom J, Paul)
Cambridge 54 - 6 Oxford
Men's A overall
Cambridge 102 - 28 Oxford

Men's B kata (Gareth, Thomas H, Kai, Nick W, Tom J)
Cambridge 54 - 16 Oxford
Men's B kumite (Tom A, Gareth, Nicholas E, Chris, Thomas H)
Cambridge 36 - 24 Oxford
Men's B overall
Cambridge 90 - 40 Oxford

Congratulations to everyone involved, a brilliant team effort after a lot of hard work!

Photos

View photos of the competition.