Karate Wales at the Shikon London International Open

Karate Wales at the Shikon London International Open

Shikon Karate Organisation were a dominant force when within the British Karate Federation, now members of karateSport England they continue to be a force to be reckoned with, being strong members of the English Karate Council, they are also founder members of the International Karate Union.

On Sunday June 22nd Shikon held their London Open Championships.

Please click here for the pictures from the event.

As we in karate Wales are now affiliated to The IKU as well as WUKF we were eager to sample a taste of the quality we will encounter in the IKU. The verdict... Hot!

As this event was only a week after the victorious Karate Wales squad returned from the WUKF Europeans Championships in Verona, a much smaller squad attended, which was a pity as this was a real learning ground. A high quality event, and a tough place to win medals.

Things couldn't have begun better for Karate Wales though, when our Double European Champion Chiara Baker again shone, earning extremely high scores in both rounds of the under 12 Kata to take the Gold medal. Daniel Page did extremely well to also make the podium in 3rd place.

Chiara's victory was a taste of things to come as Karate Wales did extremely well in the Kata events, and although there were some brilliant English Kata specialists present, Karate Wales came close to dominating in this discipline. 

Thomas Kerslake visited the rostrum on no fewer than three occasions! 

He won the Male Cadet Shito-Ryu event, was second in the Male Cadet Shotokan category and even managed a bronze medal in the Male Cadet/Adult Open Kata!

Meanwhile the girls were not to be outshone! 

Charlotte York and Kloe Christoforato had a tussle in the Female Cadet Shotokan, with Charlotte taking the Gold and Kloe Silver. Kathryn Collis took a Silver medal in the Female Cadet Shito-Ryu section.

We had finalists in both Veteran's events with Andrew Kanias winning the Mens' and Heidi Christoforato, fresh from her fantastic bronze in Verona, adding another bronze to her collection. 

As in Verona, the odds were stacked against Heidi, with the winner being the IKU World Veteran champion!

Andrew also won a Silver in the Mens Shito-Ryu category!

The young Karate Wales Kata team of Daniel Page, Kathryn Collis and Callum Chattoe did extremely well against much older and more experienced teams to win a well deserved, if surprise bronze medal.

As in Verona the quality of the Kumite was very high and medals hard to come by! 

Josh Davies nevertheless earned a bronze in the Boys U45Kg division, with Megan Chambers taking a Silver in the Girls U40Kg section.

We had only two boys for the U12 Rotation team event, but were given permission to compete and Jack George and Daniel page made the Welsh supporters proud with brave and skilful displays. It wasn't quite enough to progress past the semi-finals however and the boys took well-earned bronze medals.

Kloe had a tough time of in the Female Cadet Kumite against much bigger girls, however she has courage by the bucket and after being beaten by the narrowest of margins by the eventual winner in the semi final, she fought in the repechage, and although again taking a few knocks, easily won to take the bronze medal.

Connor Hughes and Cain Francis fought their hearts out in the Male Cadets and against more experienced opposition, can be very proud of the medals they won, Cain taking a bronze in the O60Kgs and Connor a Silver in the U52Kg's.

Dale Jenkins replicated his performance in Verona and again took a hard earned Bronze medal.

The Ladies U21 and Senior events were bound to be dominated by the strong IKU medallists from Shikon. Amy Davis, Leah Copeland and Dionne Jones are all U55Kg fighters and were pitted against much bigger and inevitably stronger opposition as the events were 'Open Weight'. 

Amy and leah both struggled to find their timing in the Ladies event, and went out early, both came back in the repechage however and weren't to be denied, taking the bronze medals.

Dionne is still quite inexperienced, but brave and has huge potential. She caused the upset of the day when fighting in the U21 'Ippon' Semi-final, stepping in when her brilliant opponent, Shauna Carroll attempted a spinning Kick. 

A clean punch to her opponent's back earned an Ippon in the first exchange of the fight! Dionne took the Silver medal with Leah taking the Bronze.

The Ladies Rotation event was more of the same, with the Girls going through the mill against very good, very strong opposition!

Leah was on the receiving end of some heavy blows to her face against various opponents, which left her with a black eye, bloody nose and bruised mouth.

The team spirit from Verona endured though, and the girls pulled together and took the Silver medal.

Leah had a real roller-coaster ride of a tournament.

She entered five events, both Ladies and U-21 Kumite events, both the Shotokan and Open kata events and the team Kumite event.

She took the Gold in Ladies Shotokan Kata and Silver in Ladies Open Kata.

With Five events entered and five medals won, she was honoured and surprised to be awarded the Adult Female Competitor of The Day trophy by the Organiser Ian Cuthbert.

A fitting finale to a very hard day for all concerned.

UNDER 12 KATA MIXED

1ST CHIARA BAKER

3RD DANIEL PAGE

MALE CADET SHOTOKAN KATA

2ND THOMAS KERSLAKE

MALE CADET SHITO RYU KATA

1ST THOMAS KERSLAKE

FEMALE CADET SHOTOKAN KATA

1ST CHARLOTTE YORK

2nd KLOE CHRISTOFORATO

FEMALE CADET SHITO RYU KATA

2ND KATHRYN COLLIS

MALE SEN SHITO RYU KATA

2ND ANDREW KANIAS

FEMALE SENIOR SHOTOKAN KATA

1ST LEAH COPELAND

MALE CADET/SEN OPEN KATA

3RD THOMAS KERSLAKE

FEMALE CADET/SEN OPEN KATA

2ND LEAH COPELAND

MALE VETS KATA

1ST ANDREW KANIAS

FEMALE VETS KATA

3RD HEIDI CHRISTOFORATO 

SENIOR TEAM KATA

3RD DANIEL PAGE, KATHRYN COLLIS, CALLUM CHATTOE

BOYS KUMITE U45K

3RD JOSH DAVIES

GIRLS KUMITE U40K

2ND MEGAN CHAMBERS

BOYS TEAM KUMITE UP TO 11 YRS

3RD JACK GEORGE & DANIEL PAGE

MALE CADET KUMITE U52K

2ND CONNOR HUGHES 

MALE CADET KUMITE O60K

3RD CAIN FRANCIS

FEMALE CADET KUMITE O55K

3RD KLOE CHRISTOFORATO

FEMALE SEN OPEN KUMITE

3RD LEAH COPELAND

3RD AMY DAVIS

MALE JUNIOR U21 OPEN

3RD DALE JENKINS

FEMALE JUNIOR U21 OPEN

2ND DIONNE JONES

3RD LEAH COPELAND

FEMALE SENIOR TEAM KUMITE

2ND AMY DAVIS, LEAH COPELAND, DIONNE JONES