BUCS Karate Championships 2024
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.
Competition Report
Back Row: Rose Zhang, Luka Pivovarsky, Jack Doust, Callum Reid, Lukas Rossmanith, Ayako Frellesvig,
Emma Shen
Front Row: Angela Shang, Maya Darmon, Yusuf Karim, Nirmay Jadhav
Image credit: Emma Shen
Over the weekend of the 24th-25th February, 12 members of CUKC travelled to Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield to compete against some of the top universities in the country at BUCS 2024.
The weekend's events were divided over the two days. The Saturday kicked off with some impressive team kata demonstrations before CUKC got onto the mats in the individual categories.
In the novice category a big shout-out goes to Emma, who despite only joining the club this year gave it her all against a tough Exeter opponent but unfortunately came off second.
In the intermediate category the club was well represented by both Luka and Yusuf. Building on a year’s hard work, Luka performed valiantly against Loughborough in the first round but didn’t manage to progress, whilst Yusuf won and lost his first two rounds respectively, before working his way through repechage with two wins earning himself and CUKC a bronze medal!
Next came the experienced category, where the team fought tooth and nail across the board. On the men’s side, Nirmay won his second round with Bassai Dai (having had a bye) and was unlucky to be knocked out, whilst Jack and Lukas came up short against quality first round opponents.
The standard of the competition this year was mirrored on the women’s side. Rose won her first two rounds of kata with Suparinpei and Anan - losing only to the eventual gold medalist -
whilst Angela too gave it her best shot but was unsuccessful in medalling. Meanwhile Ayako was let down by some puzzling officiating and unjustly disqualified, despite having not
actually done anything wrong.
The first day’s events were rounded off with team kumite! The women’s team, consisting of Maya, Rose, and Angela (who nobly stood in for Ayako) fought valiantly in their first round against a tough Nottingham Trent side, but unfortunately came off second best.
The men showed similar heart and team spirit, facing off against Bath in the first round. Despite some good performances in the first few matches (well done Nirmay and Lukas), the
team lost out in the last moments of the final fight.
After a long and tough day of competition, the CUKC 12 scoured the streets of Sheffield high and low for somewhere to eat, before enjoying a well-earned Wagamama’s (…..and perhaps
a beer).
Come day two of competition, CUKC were back with a vengeance!
A day of immense heart and resilience was kicked off with the women’s kumite categories. Both Maya and Rose put up a fight that did CUKC proud and were unlucky in coming off second best to some very skilful opponents.
In the men’s, Callum found himself in a battle of the Ura Mawashi-geri’s, clinging on like a limpet at one point whilst successfully preventing a takedown! Meanwhile, Lukas showed his
mettle by winning his first bout and giving it his all in his second. Jack got a bye into the second round before winning his first bout, only to then decide to block using his face instead of hands, earning himself a split chin and unluckily losing at the quarter-final stage.
Overall, the squad did the club proud and showed real team spirit! A special thanks goes to Sensei Ken, whose coaching and support was invaluable across the two days. Also, to Emma, who when not competing was busy taking some awesome photos.
Congratulations again to everyone who competed!
Report by Jack Doust, CUKC Men’s Captain 2023-24
Image credits: Emma Shen