BUCS Karate Championships 2011

The BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport, the merger of BUSA and UCS) karate championships are held as part of the annual BUCS Championships, in which students from all over the country compete in over twenty different sports. The competition uses WKF rules.

Competition Report

The BUCS Championship played host to some incredibly high standard karate, with students from universities nationwide showing up to test themselves against some of the country's best. CUKC gave some impressive performances, although none of the men's team was able to secure a medal this year. In the individual events, Craig Woodhead impressed with some high level kata and Richard Oriji fought well against a very tough selection of opponents. The men's team kumite had some success, scoring points with well-timed and accurate techniques against strong opposition. Unfortunately this wasn't enough to secure them a place in the final rounds and they went out on points in a close run match that could have gone either way.
CUKC's women gave a very spirited performance during the BUCS weekend. The high calibre of contestants from a range of karate styles, many of whom compete at an international level, gave the CUKC contestants one of the more difficult challenges faced all year.
In Saturday's individual kata category, Madeleine Wood, Tiina Pajuste and Gosia Stanislawek performed black belt katas. All three girls knocked out a couple of contestants. The elimination process was long however - none of the CUKC competitors managed to reach the podium.
In the afternoon, the ladies team kumite lost their first fight 3-0 to a very strong team, who continued on to win the final. As a consequence, the CUKC ladies team was given repechage. Their fight for the bronze medal was very exciting, especially as the team faced some old rivals from Manchester University. The intial encounter saw Tiina valiantly battle against her opponent, narrowly losing out on a win. In the second fight, Gosia managed to beat her adversary. Some well targeted punches by Maddy just missed the mark when fighting against her very speedy opponent and she was unfortunately beaten (by the KUGB Student Nationals champion nevertheless).
All in all, the first day of BUCS included some very good kata performances and very promising fighting for the next day of BUCS for the women's side.
BUCS on Sunday consisted of individual kumite for the CUKC girls: Tiina, Gosia, Maddy and Helen Picot. Each one of them fought with flair against every opponent. Gosia qualified into the semi finals and won a bronze medal, allowing her to be awarded a Full Blue.