ESKA Championships 2015, Crawley, UK - 28th November to 29th November

Karateka from all around Europe arrived in Crawley as the KUGB hosted the ESKA European Championships at the K2 Arena over the weekend of 28/29th November.  With over 600 entries from 22 countries, the Tournament ran over two days and lived up to expectations with 'world class' competitors producing Karate performances of the highest standard.

The KUGB was strongly represented at the Championships with teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The KUGB England Team were outstanding and took a total of FIVE European Titles.

Youth and Junior events took place on the Saturday with Abdul Saif (England) winning the Youth Male Individual Kata and Matthew Gibson (England) close behind him taking silver.  This was the first time these two young Karate had been called up for International duty and they performed incredibly well.

In the Youth Male Individual Kumite, it was Callum Wilson (England) who became Champion after an exciting fight against Milosz Sabiecki from Poland. It was a closely fought until the last few seconds when Callum scored a spectacular Jodan Mawashi Geri for Ippon and the title.

In the Junior Female Team Kata, Meleri Pryse, Rachel Edwards, Charlotte Parry (Wales) won the bronze medal.

In the Junior Male Individual Kumite Ryan Spencer (England) fought Aleksandar Blagojevic from Germany who was disqualified for excessive contact, giving Ryan a place in the final.  Unfortunately, due to the injury, Ryan could not compete and took Silver.  Cameron Graham fought Vsevolod Popov from Russia in a very exciting and hard fought semi-final but it was Popov who went on to win the event leaving Cameron with a bronze medal.

Day 2 of ESKA 2015 saw the Cadet and Senior events taking place and it was to be a busy and exciting day for the KUGB.

In the Semi finals of the Cadet Ladies Team Kumite, England Team of Maya Burns, Emily Hughes and Teah Pope fought superbly against a strong Polish team winning their place in the final.  The finals were between England and Switzerland who had beaten the Welsh Team of Lauren Livingstone, Natasha Ganderton and Jess Palmer in the semi finals. Unfortunately Emily Hughes sustained an injury which left England with only two fighters and England took Silver, losing 2-1.

England's Aidan McLean fought many tough fights to get through to the finals of the Cadet Male Individual Kumite were he took Bronze.

In the Senior Ladies Individual events England were well represented with Holly Sterling winning Bronze in the Kata final and Rhianne Blundell winning Bronze in the Kumite finals.

In the Senior Female Team Kumite, Kirstie James, Kelly Raggett, Lauren Raggett and Kirsty Smith (Wales) won Bronze and in the Senior Female Team Kata, Meleri Pryse, Rachel Edwards and Charlotte Parry (Wales) won Silver with a fine performance of Sochin, a great result.

Hisham Saif gave a terrific performance of Goju Shiho Sho to take the Senior Male Individual Kata title with Jack Somers also performing Goju Shiho Sho taking Bronze.  
Hisham Saif, Jack Somers and Stuart Amos gave a superb performance of Goju Shiho Sho to take the Senior Male Team Kata event in great style.

In the Senior Male Individual Kumite event, England dominated. James McGorian beat Poland's Michal Babos, current WSKA World Champion, to reach the final against Joseph Rawcliffe who beat team mate, Jonathon McGorian to take his place in what turned out to be a remarkable contest and a great crowd pleaser.

As both competitors lined up for the final match, KUGB England Coaches Sensei Andy Sherry and Sensei Frank Brennan, stood aside.  It was an exciting match under Shobu Sanbon rules and with just 2 seconds to go it was 3 wazaris each.  There was a powerful clash of techniques and the Chief Referee called in his Judges to check what they had seen and after a long discussion they awarded the final point to Joe Rawcliffe giving him the title of European Champion.  A fantastic end to a very exciting day for the KUGB.

The KUGB would like to thank all of the spectators for their enthusiastic support which greatly helped to motivate our competitors. We would also like to sincerely thank everyone who was involved in the running of the championships. Your tireless hard work and dedication significantly contributed to the huge success of the event.

A great performance from everyone - congratulations to you all.

 

Senior Male Individual Kumite:

Gold - Joseph Rawcliffe (England),
Silver - James McGorian (England),
Bronze - Jonathan McGorian (England)

Senior Male Team Kata:

Gold - England (Stuart Amos, Hisham Saif and Jack Somers)

Senior Male Individual Kata:

Gold - Hisham Saif (England),
Bronze - Jack Somers (England)

Youth Male Individual Kumite:

Gold - Callum Wilson (England)

Youth Male Individual Kata:

Gold - Abdul Saif (England),
Silver - Matthew Gibson (England)

Junior Male Individual Kumite:

Silver - Ryan Spencer (England),
Bronze - Cameron Graham (England)

Senior Female Team Kata:

Silver - Wales (Charlotte Parry, Rachel Edwards and Meleri Pryse)

Cadet Ladies Team Kumite:

Silver - England (Emily Hughes, Maya Burns and Teah Pope)

Senior Female Team Kumite:

Bronze - Wales (Kelly Raggett, Kirsty Smith, Lauren Raggett and Kirstie James)

Senior Ladies Individual Kumite:

Bronze - Rhianne Blundell (England)

Senior Ladies Individual Kata:

Bronze - Holly Sterling (England)

Junior Female Team Kata:

Bronze - Wales (Charlotte Parry, Rachel Edwards and Meleri Pryse)

Cadet Female Team Kumite:

Bronze - Wales (Lauren Livingstone, Jess Palmer, Natasha Ganderton)

Cadet Male Individual Kumite:

Bronze - Aidan McLean (England)