Grand Slam Karate – Nov 5th
Saturday saw Wales host the Karate Grand Slam, in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff and the Welsh Bushi-Kai had 4 representatives on the Welsh Team.- Mark McMahon, Jordan Harris, Holly Carey and Amy Nicholas. Unfortunately Ireland withdrew from the event, leaving Wales, Scotland and England to compete for the title of 2011 Grand Slam Champions.
WBK Welsh representatives
Events got under way with the ladies teams. The first match saw Wales take on a very strong England Team. In the first bout, Sammi Scott (WKK) fought Alice Gouldie, in a match which ended level. Next to fight was Holly, making her Welsh debut. Fighting Holly, was Carla Burkitt, a winner of Silver and Bronze medals in the last 2 European U21 championships. This was always going to be a tough fight for Holly in her first Grand slam, but she performed well, narrowly losing out 2-0.
The final fight saw Amy at just 16yrs old, making her senior Welsh debut, her opponent was the former U21 World Champion and Senior European medallist, Katie Hurry. Despite being much smaller and younger, Amy performed brilliantly to take a 3-2 victory, timing her gyakazuki’s perfectly and not giving her more experienced opponent any space to work in.
Despite the team losing by 1point, the 3 girls all put in an excellent performance, showing that there is a very bright future for the Welsh Ladies Team.The next match saw England take on Scotland, England won the match and with it the Grand Slam title, leaving it to Scotland and Wales to fight for second place. The first bout saw Holly facing Chelsea Wishart. Holly was determined to get the team off to the best possible start, and took an early lead, before scoring two head kicks to secure a 9-4 victory. Scotland came back strongly with current Commonwealth Champion, Chloe McLean narrowly beating Sammi. In the final bout Amy fought well, but unfortunately suffered a narrow defeat.
Welsh Squad with Officials
The Mens event also started with Wales taking on England. Mark McMahon was first up for the Welsh Team, taking on Aaron Swales, the current British Open champion, this was a very close fight, with both competitors fighting hard to give their teams a winning start, with Mark losing a close fight 2-1. The very strong England team went on to win the match 5-0, a score-line they repeated against Scotland to win the Grand Slam in emphatic style.
As with the ladies, it was Wales v Scotland to decide the runners-up. This was a very tense affair, with Wales going 1-0 down after Aaron Woods beat Cheyne Phillips in the first bout. The next bout saw Mark taking on the experienced Mark Wylie. From the start Mark was determined to level the match and soon took the lead, before scoring with a take down to take win 5-0.
Next to fight was 17yr old Jordan Harris, one of the best U18 fighters in Europe, making his senior Welsh debut, against Martin Douglas (a senior British Champion for the past 2 years). Jordan showed his class and speed, fighting with a maturity beyond his young age and securing a draw which saw the scores level with 2 bouts remaining. The final 2 bouts saw Scotland securing victories in both to take the match. This was a very young Welsh team , who will have gained some vital experience which will hopefully help them push on to new levels in the future
This was a great event which gave our fighters exposure to international competition, with everyone of them acquitting themselves very well and showing they are capable of competing at the highest level.
The competition was covered by BBC Wales, with highlights and interviews with Competitors, Coaches and Officials being show on “Sport Wales” on BBC2 at 7pm on Friday 11th November