KUGB Central Regions Championships 2009

The KUGB Central Regions Championships is held annually during the competition-filled Lent Term. The competition is open to all KUGB affiliated clubs in the centre of the country and is held in Chesterfield.

Photos

View photos of the competition.

Competition Report

It's with great pleasure that I can announce that yesterday the squad rounded off the year with its best ever results at the KUGB Central Regions Championships. The men's kumite team won for the fourth year in a row, Petre and Luiz won men's kata and kumite respectively, and Madeleine won women's kumite in a hair-raising final against Anna Parkin, who had won the event every year since as long as anyone can remember.

In men's kyu grade kata CUKC claimed two of the medals - Antony Tran took 3rd, and Martin Worthington took silver in his first competition. Petre Nicolescu never looked in doubt over taking gold in the men's dan grade kata as judges gave him top scores for both Sochin and Unsu (what else?!). Tegwen took 3rd place in women's kyu grade kata, while Katerina took 3rd place and Madeleine 2nd place in women's dan grade kata.

New Men's Captain Nim Sukumar set the tone for the year ahead by winning silver in the under 21 kumite, while Antony Tran took bronze and his second medal of the day. In the senior men's kyu grade kumite, Jonty Fairless took control of his first fight but found out after his win that he'd been fighting the wrong person! This setback didn't faze him and he went on to take bronze, while Kai Chai's ferocious jodan punches secured him a place in the final and the silver medal. Luiz Jardim stormed through to the senior men's kumite final with various stunning ippons, and completely outclassed his opponent in the final itself with a lightning fast ura mawashi-geri and another ippon for the gold medal. The women's senior kumite was almost an all-Cambridge affair. Tegwen and Katerina each took equal third, while Madeleine proved too fast and, well, just too good for Anna Parkin as she took gold in a really classy final. While receiving her medal, Madeleine was congratulated by Frank Brennan on her excellent timing.

The men's kumite A team of Paul, Luiz and Nim dominated their various opponents as they convincingly won gold in team kumite, while the B team of Kai, Jonty and Joseph won bronze. The girl's team of Madeleine, Katerina and Tegwen narrowly lost to Kaizen in the final, earning them silver.

Congratulations to the whole squad and especially our first time competitors, Martin Worthington and Simon Whelan.

Overall

Kumite: 2nd