|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17th British International Open for Juniors and Cadets
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre January 21-22 2006
Report by Martyn & Olivia Skipper
Photos by Martyn Skipper, and DEPhoto www.dephoto.co.uk A new year is upon us, and a new era in English karate. The BIKO series is recognised as important in the European tournament calendar. ...more |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
English Karate Governing Body Junior Championships, Sheffield, September 24th-25th 2005
Report by Martyn Skipper, Photos by Toni Todorov The EKGB is dead. Long live Karate England!
This is the final tournament under the EKGB banner. By the time this report goes to press, the Whole Sport Plan Implementation Board (WSPIB) will have met and, barring disasters, the new unified Governing Body, under the name "Karate England 2005 Limited” will have been inaugurated under the auspices of Sport England.
The first EKGB Children’s championships were held here at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre back in 1993, in those days a one-day event and, according to one senior official, “a very amateur affair”. This year six mats ran for two days and a packed auditorium saw individual and team kata and kumite events as well as the second English Regional Team Championships. The regional events pit the EKF (European Karate Federation) defined national regions (North, Midlands and South) against each other in senior male and female kata and kumite events. ...more |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EKGB National Championships
Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield 12-13th March 2005 Ponds Forge, with its central location, excellent facilities and spacious, well- equipped Sports Hall is becoming the de facto home of the English Championships, as well as a number of other significant tournaments. Admittedly parking facilities leave a little to be desired, especially when the tournament shares the centre with another major event, as is often the case. Nevertheless, Sheffield has a deserved reputation as one of the centres of British Sport. Entry to the English Championships is only by nomination from one of the 100 Associations affiliated to EKGB; consequently the entry represents the cream of English karate – the “best of the best”. The Championships attract such an entry these days that the competition is held over two days; kata on the Saturday and kumite on the Sunday. In a sense this is a shame because it risks segregating the kata from its more glamorous brother, the kumite. However many associations send their squad for the two days and there is still, in these days of specialisation, a significant number of competitors who participate - indeed succeed - in both disciplines. Therefore there is a strong body of support for the (to the outsider, perhaps) somewhat esoteric kata categories. These die-hard spectators are not disappointed. Modern competitive kata, with its individual and team disciplines, the latter which under current WKF rules require bunkai (applications) to be demonstrated in the finals, is an exciting, skilful spectacle in its own right. Some may argue indeed that, freed from the constraints of safety-conscious sport kumite, competitive kata is the purer demonstration of karate ethics and ideals. One of the exemplars then of these ethics must be Ishinryu’s Jonathan Mottram, who this year claimed his eleventh consecutive English individual title. His heir to the title may well be team-mate Tony Smith, his worthy runner-up. ...more |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AMA International Open Harvey Hadden, 26th-27th Feb 2005 The AMA International Open is now in its seventh year, and seems to get bigger and better each year. This year 720 competitors from 17 different countries, as far afield as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran and Sri Lanka, as well as all over Europe and Scandanavia, were in attendance. The grandstand seating was full and people were three deep at the matside barriers. Seven tatami were in operation over the two days, and the audience were in for some treats. Guests of honour on the Saturday were The Right Worshipful, the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Cllr John Harsthorne, and the Lady Mayoress, Charmaine Jones.
Although Cllr Hartshorne is not a karate afiçionado, he has been a regular attendee at this event and told me he was pleased to see the level of commitment to both fitness and team participation such a championships demands. He added; “any such sporting event that involves youngsters in self-improvement, and contributing to the community gets my support”. The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were kept busy throughout the day awarding trophies to the successful athletes. In addition, their official duties included awards of honorary AMA affiliation to the national coaches of some of the visiting countries:....more |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AMA Technical Committee Grading 16th October 2004 Bury, Lancashire. On October 16th the AMA held a Technical Committee Examination for Dan Grades. The Grading Panel was: Kevin Hamilton Stewart, 6th Dan Wado Ryu and AMA Technical Director; Peter Allen, 6th Dan Shukokai and AMA National Karate Team Manager; and Tony Hunter 3rd Dan Shotokan. This diversity reflected the various styles of the candidates, with examinees testing in Shotokan, Shukokai, Wado Ryu and free-style karate. Candidates came from as far south as Somerset and as far north as Sunderland, and were asked to demonstrate the full range of technical and physical skills, including, Kata (including an understanding and demonstration of bunkai), Kumite and pairs work, Kihon and basic drills, Makiwari waza, and free attack / self defence.... more |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On July 6th Tower Shukokai sent a team to the prestigious Amateur Martial Association (AMA) National Karate championships at the Harvey Hadden Centre, Nottingham. The AMA is the largest karate association in the national governing body, so the competition was naturally tough.
Nevertheless, veteran instructors Andy Allwood, Fourth Dan Black Belt, and Martyn Skipper, Third Dan, took honours.
Skipper took Silver in the U65kg category, improving on last years Bronze, losing the final by only two points in a close match against an England International. Allwood went on to take Silver in the 80kg+ category and, after another exciting final, took silver too in the openweight category (where his team-mate Martyn had to settle for fourth place).
Tower Shukokai train on Thursdays at the Darwen Leisure centre. For more details, contact Andy on 01204 596199 or email henka-ryu@tiscali.co.uk |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14th English International Open: Crystal Palace September 2003 Just a week after the phenomenal success of the Commonwealth Championships, England played host to another major International karate tournament. The International Open is always a popular event, but this time many of the visiting Commonwealth teams made a tour of it. The Australian, xml:namespace prefix = st1 />New Zealand, and Botswanan teams all stayed the extra week, and all were rewarded with honours. Other countries represented included Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Norway and the Czech Republic, as well as a number of British federation teams. The Commonwealths was a tough tournament and many of the England stars deservedly decided to rest, but some braved a second major competition with only a week’s respite, and high praise indeed is due to the home and visiting athletes who took on this challenge. In the Mens’ Kata, Australia’s Tim Jovanivic, improved on his Commonwealth Bronze meeting England’s Jonathan Mottram in the final. For the second time in eight days, Mottram was victorious, adding English open Gold to his Commonwealth title. In the Womens’ kata Australia’s Kara Sleigh, not placed in the Commonwealths, took gold, and her teammate Alexia Hunter took silver, matching her performance of the previous week.In the Mens’ U60 Kumite England’s Paul Newby took revenge over New Zealand’s Todd Hammington. Hammington took the Commonwealth title, leaving Newby in third. This time the positions were reversed. The England 60+ womens’ dream team of Katrina Lowe and Tania Weekes met in the final for the second time in a week. The result was the same, Weekes taking Gold, and Lowe runner up. xml:namespace prefix = o /> xml:namespace prefix = o /> The excellent, dreadlocked Tyron Edwards of New Zealand improved on his Commonwealth openweight Bronze with a Gold in the U80 Mens’ kumite. In the final medal table Australia were tops with three Golds, but the entertaining Botwana team were only one bronze behind them. British Sport Karate, a single federation against a raft of National teams took three Golds to take third place overall. Future dates for your diary: 29/30 November 2003, the British Karate Federation Championships at Sheffield. These will include the Six Nation Grandslam (England, France, Spain, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland). 24/25 January 2004, Junior English Open at Crystal Palace. For more info on these events, contact Abdu Shaher on ABDUSHAH@aol.com or check the EKGB website on http://www.ekgb.org.uk Report by: Martyn Skipper henka-ryu@tiscali.co.uk if ((navBrowserOk) && (1 == 1)) { document.write(""); } else { document.write(" | | | | |
|
