Karate Wales Shine at the WKL Opening Event
[Picture: Karate Wales Mens and Ladies teams with Gareth Reynolds and David Godfrey]
The Welsh Karate League stepped up to another level on Sunday April 13th at the opening tournament of the new season, when 37 clubs sent more than 450 entries to the WKA International Open.
The home of Sport Wales, the Welsh Institute of Sport, was the venue, a brilliant stage for the biggest and highest quality WKL event yet, and probably the biggest and certainly highest quality Karate tournament in Wales in years!
[Picture: Vale Karate dominate the new Parent & Child Kata category]
There is now a very definite buzz around the League and Karate Wales, with all Wales' most successful clubs over the past decade or more, ever present with strong squads, which will undoubtedly drive standards up, and it has to be said that although Vale Karate, Ken Bu Kan and The Bushi-Kai will be hard to oust in the League pecking order, there is a plethora of talent emerging from many other Karate Wales clubs in the League! Cardiff Shotokan, Cogan, Talbot, Kansei, Pencoed, Wattstown... the list goes on of Karate Wales clubs who have huge potential in their ranks!
This event stood out, as apart for three categories (which will in future be merged within others) all events were busy. The adult events were absolutely packed, and packed with talent! The biggest adult categories in Wales in perhaps a decade! It is a very long time since we witnessed twenty-four in a Ladies Kumite event!

Only Amy Nicholas and Amy Davis represented Karate Wales in the Ladies team event, and against the quality present, two good fighters was not enough.
The second event is fast approaching - May 11th in Bridgend.