KUGB National Championships 2015
The KUGB National Championships are held annually and feature the most talented karateka in the KUGB. Any CUKC member can compete.
Photos
View photos of the competition.
Competition Report
Cambridge Representatives:
Paul Smith
Francisco Martinez
Herve Vandekerckhove
Ronald Prokes
Scott Ang Yiqiang
Jonathan Sinclair-Williams
Tiina Pajuste
Sian Butler
Marcus Ingham
On Saturday the 2nd of May we were able to take 9 competitors up to Birmingham for the 49th National Championships. The arena was overwhelming in size with vast numbers of people there, being the national championships the standards were incredibly high.
Individual Kata
With such high standards we did not get off to the best start in the individual events. Firstly Ron easily made it into the second round of kata but was then knocked out by Joe Rawcliffe with Heian Yondan, meaning he did not get the opportunity to progress any further. Marcus was equally as unfortunate and although winning silver at regionals he was knocked out the first round of kata. Sian and Tiina, the women competing for CUKC, also were not able to progress through onto the semi-finals and were knocked out beforehand.
Individual Kumite
Individual kumite also did not bring back any medals. Jonathan took a mawashi-geri jodan in the first round, scoring an ippon and hence the opponent winning the match. Paul was able to clear his first opponent, but the second was far more evenly matched. After a tough fight the result ended in 2-1 to the opponent. Francisco and Herve were both seeded to the quarterfinals as a result of last year’s success, meaning they did not have to fight the earlier rounds. In Francisco's fight he delivered a clean ura mawashi-geri to the head of the opposition, yet was not awarded the point, instead had a jodan punch scored against him. After another jodan-tsuki Francisco was also knocked out of the competition. Herve's fight didn't go to plan either as he lost, despite a hard attempt.
Team Kata
The team kata of Scott, Ron and Jonathan went into the Nationals with high hopes after winning at the Central regionals. From the start the standards from other clubs were noticeably higher. The team used Gion to make it into the semis, and then again in the semi finals. In the semis the points were very close amongst all the teams with Cambridge the last team to go. After finishing they were unsure if it was high enough to make it into the final. Luckily enough they came third in the semis taking them to the finals where the pressure was on. They went on centre stage in front of all of the audience to perform Empi. The kata went just as planned and they ended up winning silver, just short of winning gold! All three were incredibly happy they were able to medal at a national level.
Team Kumite
Team Kumite was seeded to the quarterfinals after making it to the semi finals in the previous year. The team consisted of Herve, Francisco, Paul and Jonathan. The first round had Herve, then Francisco, then Paul all winning their matches putting them into the semi-final. In the semis they faced Edinburgh who had some very good fighters, meaning Herve's fight became a waiting game ending in a draw. Francisco won his match, and then Paul won his, letting out a scream of delight as they were through to the final. In the final they faced Halewood, the winners for the last consecutive five years, who had Joe Rawcliffe and James McGorian. Firstly Francisco was up against Joe and with a waza-ari each they drew, then the same happened with Herve and James. Finally Paul was up against their last fighter, determined to win. With all the pressure on him, Paul was able to secure two waza-aris to take back the trophy!
The day finished with delight as everyone from the club headed to the pub for a well-deserved meal to conclude the competition.
List of medals
Ronald - Team kata silver
Scott - Team kata silver
Jonathan - Team kata silver, Team kumite gold
Paul - Team kumite gold
Francisco - Team kumite gold
Herve - Team kumite gold
