EUSA Karate Championships 2007

The European Universities Sports Association Karate Championships is a WKF format competition held once every two years with teams representing over twenty European nations. Selection for the British team is based on performance at the BUSA Championships held earlier in the year (usually the winners of each event are invited to compete at EUSA). This year Ian MacLeod represented Cambridge and GB in the Men's U70kg Kumite, and Ian MacLeod, Tom Johnson and Paul Smith represented Cambridge and GB in the Men's Team Kata event.

Photos

View photos of the competition.

Competition Report

In July three members of CUKC travelled to Podgorica, Montenegro to compete in the European Universities Sports Association (EUSA) Karate Championships. Ian MacLeod, Tom Johnson and Paul Smith were selected to compete in the male team kata category after their convincing win at BUSA earlier in the year. Ian was also selected to fight in the U70kg category, making him the only member of the GB team to compete in both kata and kumite. In all there were 121 students from 17 countries at the competition.

The first day kicked off with the team kata event. The Cambridge team had worked hard in the months leading up to the competition, preparing a total of five kata and a set of bunkai. As expected the standard at the competition was exceptionally high, but the team managed to take joint third place – their performance of Empi in the semi-finals was unfortunately beaten by the Belgrade team's performance of the same kata, and they went on to take gold. The Cambridge team are hugely proud to have taken bronze among such a strong field of competitors, and now enter the upcoming competition season as the strongest kata team CUKC has seen in recent history, and firm favourites for Varsity.

In the kumite Ian came up against a tough fighter in the first round, who took control of the fight early on with two ippons and an impressive ashi combination. Despite the scoreline Ian stayed in the fight, narrowly missing several times with powerful gyaku-zukis. His opponent won the fight but Ian was unlucky on this occasion and would have beaten many of the other fighters in the draw. His achievement of being selected for EUSA in an individual category is not to be underestimated, and Ian enters the 2008 season stronger than ever as BUSA U70kg champion and seeded in the KUGB Nationals.