2nd United World Karate Championships 2017

2ND UNITED WORLD KARATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

A tally of the medals won by karate Wales at the 2nd United World Karate Championships, held in Montecatini, Italy from November 30th to December 3rd 2017.
Well done to all, in representing Wales with pride!

BRANDON HARVEY
UWK WORLD CHAMPION 
KUMITE SHOBU SANBON MALE CADET 15 TO 17 YEARS 55 TO 65 KG 

MORGAN HARVEY
UWK WORLD CHAMPION 
KUMITE SHOBU SANBON MALE MINI CADETS 13 TO 14 YEARS 55 TO 65 KG

ELLIE THOMAS 
UWK WORLD CHAMPION
15-16 CONTACT KUMITE

JOSH DAVIES 
UWK SILVER MEDAL 
KUMITE SHOBU SANBON MALE CADETS OPEN 15 TO 17 YEARS OPEN WEIGHT 

SAM CANA 
UWK SILVER MEDAL
KUMITE SHOBU SANBON MALE JUNIORS 18 TO 20 YEARS 75 TO 85 KG

MENS TEAM 
LUKE HOWARD, RYAN WILLIAMS, DCAIN FRANCIS, SAM CANA
UWK SILVER MEDALS
KUMITE TEAM SHOBU SANBON MALE SHOBU SANBON SENIORS

MALE CADET TEAM 
JOSH DAVIES, JACOB DENHAM, BRANDON HARVEY
UWK BRONZE MEDALS
KUMITE TEAM SHOBU SANBON MALE SHOBU SANBON CADETS 15 TO 17 YEARS 

LAUREN GALLAGHER
UWK BRONZE MEDAL
KUMITE SHOBU SANBON FEMALE CADETS  
15 TO 17 YEARS 45 TO 50 KG
BRONZE MEDAL
KUMITE SHOBU SANBON FEMALE CADETS OPEN 
15 TO 17 YEARS OPEN WEIGHT

ELLIE THOMAS
UWK BRONZE MEDAL
15-16 CONTACT KATA

MIKE HUMPHRIES
UWK BRONZE MEDAL 
VETERAN CONTACT KATA

MALI GRIGG
UWK BRONZE MEDAL
13-14 CONTACT KATA

Karate Wales Open for All Ages Categories

Karate Wales Safeguarding Course 21st July

Karate Wales Safeguarding Course 21st July.

Karate Wales held the latest Child Protection and Safeguarding course for instructors in Penarth on 21st July.

All Heads of Associations should be aware that all instructors and assistant instructors need to be safeguarding trained.

Karate Wales will host these courses as necessary to ensure this criteria is met.

Heads of Associations are asked to contact Shihan Lee Costa for details of the next courses.

Karate Wales Squad Training

KARATE WALES SQUAD TRAINING

Squad Training details in preparations for Bratislava 

12th May, 9th June

-13yrs Juniors Session

   14+ yrs Senior Session

10am to 12.00pm 

Senior Kata & Junior Kumite

12.30pm to 2.30pm 

Senior Kumite & Junior Kata

Hengwrt Community Sports Centre,

Llansawel Crescent,

Briton Ferry,

SA11 2UN

Cost £5.00

Karate Wales success at the WUKF World Karate Championships 2016

Karate Wales success at the WUKF World Karate Championships

A squad of 48 athletes travelled to Dublin to represent Karate Wales at the 6th World Union of Karate Federations World Championships, held from the 17th to 19th of June. It was a huge event with over 2250 athletes competing from 76 Federations world wide.

Welsh athletes would compete over the full spectrum of events in both kata and kumite and as both individuals and as teams. For the first time at a WUKF World Championships the squad contained athletes who would compete in the Adaptive Category for athletes with disabilities, and what success they had bringing back a total of 4 Gold medals, 5 Silver and 5 Bronze!

In the Adaptive Category Tyler Foster from Merthyr gave an outstanding performance in the Male Kata over 15 years ambulatory division to take the Gold medal and become World Champion. Ably supported by Bradley James and Leon Jones winning Silver medals and Lucas Widdrington a Bronze put Karate Wales at the top of the medal table in this category with a total of 4. A superb result for our first time in this category at World level.

In the Veterans Female Kata Kay Powell, also of Merthyr, finally took the World Gold that her decades of training deserved. Having come close many times over her numerous years of international competition she finally became World Champion with a masterful individual performance.

Josh Davies of Swansea in the individual Wado Ryu kata for 13 to 14 years also produced a Gold winning performance to win this division and become Karate Wales third World Champion.

The fourth Gold medal was won by Chiara Baker, Aaliyah Wiley, Sasha Hughes and Sumaya Evans who gave an energetic and spirited performance to win the Female Shobu Sanbon Rotation team division for 11 to 12 years. Every team member played their part, both on the mat and by encouraging their team mates, to become World Champions.

Karate Wales other three silver medals were won by:

Jacob Denham – Wado Ryu kata male 13 to 14 years green to black belt

Lauren Gallagher – Shobu Sanbon kumite female 15 to 17 years all belts

Sam Cana – Shobu Sanbon kumite male 15 to 17 years all belts

Bronze medals were also won by:

Josh Dodwell – Shobu Sanbon kumite male 18 to 20 years all belts

Leah Copeland – Shobu Sanbon Seniors female 21 to 35 years 55-60kg

Rahine Karunanithy – Shobu Sanbon kumite Seniors female 21 to 35 years 55-60kg

Leah Copeland, Amy Davies, Katie Rees and Rahine  Karunanithy Shobu Sanbon kumite Seniors female team rotation 21-35 years.

Praise must also be given to the team of coaches that accompanied the squad. The event turned into an endurance marathon with twice the number of athletes competing than was originally anticipated by the organisers. This led to 12 to 15 hour days of competition and a logistical headache to ensure each athlete made it to their area in time for their event.

Despite this, at the end of three long days, Karate Wales was proud to emerge with four Gold medals and seven new World Champions as well as a host of other medallists. Allied to previous World, European, British and Welsh Champions within the squad, the Karate Wales Governing Body continues to go from strength to strength.

Female Rotation Team 11-12 Years World Champion

Josh Davies World Champion

Kay Powell World Champion

 Tyle Foster World Champion

Karate Wales Youth Open 2018 Results

 Karate Wales Youth Open 2018 Results

KW Open 2018 results

Karate Wales Open 2018 Results

More World Champions for Karate Wales at the 8th WUKF World Championships

More World Champions for Karate Wales at the 8th WUKF World Championships

Karate Wales recently sent a squad of 38 athletes, along with coaches and referees, to compete in the 8th WUKF World Championships held in Bratislava, Slovakia. The tournament was held from the 20th to 23rd of June and also incorporated the 1st WUKF World Kobudo Championships. This made it one of the largest events that WUKF have hosted with roughly 2600 competitors taking part. With that many competitors it was a case of early starts and late nights. Despite this, and also battling brand new slippery mats, our squad stood up to the challenge and powered through to success.

Karate Wales entered in 71 categories at the tournament bringing home 17 medals, including 7 gold. Karate Wales proudly finished 14th in the medal table out of 83 countries, another fantastic achievement for our squad.

As always, a huge thanks goes to our team of coaches for their administration, support and advice during the championships. Karate Wales head coach David Godfrey, Tubbo, Hugh Gallagher, Andrew Tanaka Lewis and Barrie Rees made sure that no competitor was left on their own whilst on the mat and ran around the stadium more than the competitors! They were there first each morning and stayed until the last competitor finished each night, I’m sure all our athletes are grateful for all their efforts.

Our team of referees; Andrew Jones, Doru Grad and Tak Chan represented Karate Wales with distinction, again having early starts and long days. Well done all.

The Karate Wales equivalent of the Barmy Army, the travelling parents and supporters, maintained our ranking as the loudest team with their frequent renditions of Oggy! Oggy! Oggy!

So as another World Championships finishes, Karate Wales can reflect on some of our established athletes adding more World medals to their tally, cementing their place amongst the elite of WUKF athletes. Also, some new young talent coming into the spotlight which bodes well for the future. And several athletes competing at this level of competition for the first time who will take away some valuable experience.

Congratulations goes to the whole squad who I’m sure will have already turned their eyes towards the upcoming WUKF European Championships

in Denmark in October and we wish them all the best.

Full results:

Gold medallists:

Jacob DenhamWado kata 16-17 years

Sophia Poolekumite 7 years open weight 

Theo Poole kumite 10 years over 145cm

Morgan Harveykumite 14-15 years 65-75kg

Sasha Hugheskumite 14-15 years open weight

Lauren Gallagherkumite 18-20 years under 55kg

Gareth Rowekumite 51-60 years open weight

Silver medallists:

Owen Roekata all-styles brown-black belt 8 years

Lauren Gallagherkumite 18-20 years open weight

Connor Wills/Jac Tucker/Theo Poole kumite team boys under 11 years

Bronze medallists:

Corey Joneskata all-styles green-purple belt under 7 years

Poppy Vaughankumite 7 years open weight

Maddison Loveridgekumite 13 years over 60kg

Ffion Davieskumite 14-15 years open weight

Callum Lewiskumite 16-17 years 55-65 kg

Jacob Denhamkumite 16-17 years open weight

Cain Franciskumite senior men open weight

Open Championships 2019

ONLINE ENTRY NOW OPEN

www.kihapp.com

www.kihapp.com

THE 10th WUKF EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: A MILESTONE FOR KARATE WALES!

THE 10th WUKF EUROPEAN  CHAMPIONSHIPS: 
A MILESTONE FOR KARATE WALES!

Karate Wales can reflect on the 10th WUKF European Championships For All Ages, held in Malta from 24-27th October as a milestone.

From humble beginnings, being one of WUKF’s smaller federations with only a few top level competitors at their WUKF debut in 2012 to establishing Karate Wales, in Malta, as being among WUKF’s strongest nations, with a squad full of winners!

Finishing the Championships ranked eighth of fifty-five federations present and with a squad of forty-nine athletes, six coaches and our Chief Referee, amongst the almost two thousand total entries, Karate Wales earned their best ever tally of ten gold, four silver and eight bronze medals, which could have been an even more impressive tally, as there were many Welsh Karate athletes who shone, but were unable to clear the final hurdle to reach the podium.

Welsh Highlights were liberally sprinkled throughout the four days of competition from the smallest and youngest children, Jakob Bartush & Talia Efstathiou of Vale Karate and Lily Rosser & Jac Tucker of Akaizen through the 13-14 year-old mini-cadets Tia Lewis & Molly Salter (Akaizen) Sasha Hughes (Wattstown) and Ffion Gallagher (WKU) and cadets (15-17 years) Lauren Gallagher and Ffion Davies (WKU) Alysha Lee & Grace McIntosh (Vale Karate) Jacob Denham & Morgan Harvey (WKA) and Callum Lewis (Akaizen) to the adult Juniors (18-20) Sam Cana and Brandon Harvey and of course the seniors, Cain Francis (Talbot) Steffan Rees (Wattstown) and veterans, Barrie Rees (Wattstown) and Kay Powell (Akaizen)

Four of Wales’ Kumite teams found the podium; the female mini-cadets (13-14 years) and the senior men took gold medals, the men beating the current WUKF World Champions, Slovakia, in a hugely exciting final.

Wales’ first win in this, probably the toughest, most exciting and hotly contested event.

The squad will look to next June’s WUKF World Championships in Slovakia and October’s EUKF European’s in Denmark with excitement and confidence.