BUCS Karate Championships 2022

The BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport, the merger of BUSA and UCS) karate championships are held as part of the annual BUCS Championships, in which students from all over the country compete in over twenty different sports. The competition uses WKF rules. BUCS National Championships 2022

Photos

View photos of the competition.

Competition Report

On Saturday 12th March, 10 of CUKC’s finest converged on Pond’s Forge Sports Centre in Sheffield for BUCS 2022. After a missed year due to COVID, Universities from around the country were raring to go and show what they’ve got.

The first event on the first day saw a Cambridge success in team kata. The team Anan amazed all the way up to semi-finals, where the eventual winners, Nottingham, pipped them to the post and left Cambridge in the repechage round. Alex Duncan, Millie and Sam ploughed on; with an impressive bunkai sequence involving multiple throws, Cambridge secured the team kata bronze.

Then followed senior individual kata. Fizz, Ewan, and Ismael showed that Cambridge wasn’t around to play in their first round and progressed to the second but were unsuccessful in medalling. Sam and Millie both lost out to finalists, but their respective Anan Dai and Papuren meant that they won another bronze each, qualifying to represent Cambridge and the UK in the EUSA games in July.

The last kata event involving Cambridge saw Fei in a battle of the Bassai Dais. Despite impressive stances and incredible strength, Fei missed out on getting to the third round.



To round off the first day’s events, team kumite kicked off. The men’s team won 3-1 in the first round then lost narrowly 2-3 in the second round. The women’s team followed a similar pattern, winning 2-1 in the first round (shoutout to Jaz for performing so well under immense pressure) and losing 2-0 in the second against Coventry.

After a long first day of competition, the CUKC 10 had some rest to regather their strength for kumite the next day.
The second day followed, starting off with two successes from Cambridge’s lightweights. Millie, scoring two ippons in a row in the repechage, won bronze and became one of the few (if not the only) competitors to qualify for Europeans in both kata and kumite. Callum won his first fight with ease then was sent into the repechage by an eventual finalist. Showing that he’s basically untouchable in the ring, he secured a convincing victory 8-0 and won himself a bronze as well as the invitation to Europeans.

The rest of the men showed strength and fortitude, adding to the electric team spirit felt on the second day. Sam, despite gaining senshu (first point), had to withdraw due to injury, and Ismael fought valiantly against an eventual semi-finalist. Alex Kutuzov, in his element on the mats, lost his second fight against the eventual silver medallist by only 2 points, despite his well-timed snappy head kicks.

The women then made their way to the mats for the last heats of the day. Fizz applied a high degree of pressure against the eventual gold medallist but lost. Alex Duncan, in her first round, saw a draw that resulted in her receiving 3 out of 4 flags, a convincing victory that was continued in her other win where her jodan geri ippon saw her progress into a fight against the eventual bronze medallist.



Many thanks go to Sensei Richard for coaching on the Saturday, and to the organisers of the event. Congratulations again to all competitors!

Overall

Pictured below:



Top row (left to right):
Alex Kutuzov
Ismael Sierra
Richard Poole (coach)
Fei Yuan
Ewan Chamberlain
Callum Reid – Bronze senior male kumite -67kg
Bottom row (left to right):
Millie Johal (captain) – Bronze team kata, bronze senior female kata, bronze senior female kumite -50kg
Fizz McNally
Jasmin Knight
Sam Hill (president) – Bronze team kata, bronze senior male kata
Alex Duncan – Bronze team kata