This was the first time that Japan Karate Association members of the four nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland had come together for a united competition in the UK.
Ohta Sensei introduced each country’s senior representatives, and JKA England’s Technical Committee and squad coaches. The special guest of the day was Mr. Eiji Watanabe, First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in the UK.
There were seven student entries from Shiranamikai:
Danny put in a very good kata and kumite performance. In both events of the men’s 9th-7th Kyu categories he was drawn against the eventual gold medalist. Iman, Sara and Sheila have all improved technically since their first competition.
On to the medals: Dharvi won the bronze medal in kumite while Shivani picked up two medals this year: silver in kata and bronze in kumite – very well done! Finally, congratulations to Anju who at six was the youngest competitor and the lowest grade in what was a very large kata category. After some cracking performances, she won the gold! I have to say how impressed I was with the attitude of all four medalists in this section – the final rankings were announced incorrectly twice before being corrected the third time. But all the young ladies in the final dealt with it admirably (far better than some of the Olympians did back in June) and seemed genuinely happy for each other, making them all winners. Events like this really do help to make new friends!
Well done everybody who entered! And thank you to Delia and Darius for looking after us all and making sure the students got to their areas promptly! The next competition will take place in June 2013. But don’t wait until then to get ready; now is the time to set your goal – then train and practise regularly!
Oss!
Austin