Wantage Karate Club

Financial support from both local and national sponsors was critical in allowing the day to go ahead. Special thanks and gratitude are therefore extended to Frank Mahon of the Greyhound Inn, Letcombe Regis and Morson International, provider of agency supplied engineering workers for their generous contributions.

The majority of the kumite events continue with Shobu Ippon (1 point) scoring to foster a traditional ‘no second chances’ martial spirit, aligned to ‘ikken hissatsu’ (to kill in one blow). However for the younger competitors Shobu Sambon (3 points) was preferred to maximise their time on the mat and to relax the scoring criteria. The morning was taken up with eliminations on three areas simultaneously. With the finals occurring in the afternoon after a welcome break. Lunch time entertainment was provided by Cando Martial Arts with an excellent and well received Jeet Kune Do and Kali (Filipino Weapons based Martial Art) demonstration on the concepts of being able to fight across a range of distances and against different styles of attack.

The best bout of the day featured Mackenzie Borwn and Olivia Orchard in the girls 135 to 149cm Shobu Sambon final where both girls shown tremendous spirit. Olivia came out on top despite a significant height difference. This battling spirit was of no surprise to her Sensei who noted that she had actually requested to compete against the boys as well!

Excellent examples of successful technically challenging kumite techniques and outstanding Kata performances were noted throughout the day. The collective decision made by the Officials for ‘Technique/performance of the day’ was awarded to Stella Vassiliow for a stunning kata performance of Sochin just edging it from Dillon Callery whose accurate reverse punch captured first place in his junior kumite category despite a aggressive and intimating opponent. Points were awarded to each club based on the cumulative individual and team results of club members from the various categories. The totals were ranked giving the overall club winner. An impressively large Margate team carried off the Club Championships pipping Tonbridge into second with Abingdon and the hosts Wantage taking joint third.

Category 1 - Junior Kata <140cm, Novice to 4th Kyu