KUGB Central Regions Championships 2014

The KUGB Central Regions Championships is held annually during the competition-filled Lent Term. The competition is open to all KUGB affiliated clubs in the centre of the country and is held in Chesterfield.

Photos

View photos of the competition.

Competition Report

On the 8th March, a squad of 13 student and non-student members of CUKC awoke at an unreasonably early morning and hour and made the long journey to Chesterfield to compete in the Central Regions championships.

The men’s kumite teams; Francisco/Petre/Jerome /Prag and Scott/Sebastian/Adrian/Ivo; were fighting on the tatami within minutes of entering the competition hall. Unprecedentedly, both teams failed to progress to the next round, courtesy of incredibly bad luck and some questionable refereeing. Francisco and Sebastian should be commended for winning their fights, despite the overall loss. Refusing to be undeterred by this setback, Francisco and Petre both stormed to the semi-finals of the men’s senior kumite in classic style. Jerome (President) and Scott (men’s captain-elect), not to be outdone, pushed through to the semis of the 18-20 Dan grade kumite, although a brutal injury in the previous round meant that Scott was forced to forfeit his match. Jerome came up against the same England squad member he had defeated last year, but was unable to replicate his success and had to settle for the bronze. Meanwhile, Adrian pushed his way to the final of the kyu grade kumite, an admirable effort for his first competition; CUKC’s youngest member, Georgia Poole, staked her place in the finals of the children’s ippon kumite with a demonstration of ferocity far surpassing her size; and Tegwen Ecclestone and Tiina Pajuste claimed the bronze in the women’s team kumite (despite being one member short of the requisite three and having to forfeit one match per round). Unfortunately, a dislocated toe during the team kumite put Tiina out of contention for the individual female Dan grade kumite, although Tegwen compensated for her fallen team member by following Georgia and Adrian into the finals. The adult team kata (Scott, Ivo and Jerome) stormed into the last four with a brilliantly-timed Empi, only 0.1 behind the group leaders. In the subsequent kata events, CUKC saw excellent effort from all its competitors. Georgia, Adrian and Tegwen all reached the finals of their respective categories. Jerome, Scott and Petre all made it to the penultimate round of the male Dan grade kumite but the strength of the field was such that only Petre achieved a place in the last four, with two characteristically solid performances of Sochin.

The finals began late in the afternoon, with Georgia opening CUKC’s medal tally, crowned as the winner of both the ippon kumite and children’s kyu grade kata. Adrian added a third gold to the count with a sharp Heian Yondan in the male senior kyu grade kata, before falling only just short of the trophy for the over-21 kyu grade kumite and settling for a well deserved second-place. Petre’s rendition of Unsu was stunning as always, and rewarded him with a silver medal in the male Dan grade kata, behind only the current ESKA champion. Tegwen added to her earlier team kumite medal in spectacular fashion with another bronze in the female Dan grade kata, before winning CUKC’s third silver medal of the day, battling bravely and narrowly losing against a seasoned South Notts fighter.

CUKC’s team kata put in a strong performance of Jion, and impressed the judges sufficiently to come away with another set of bronze medals; a notable feat, considering the co-ordination of the kata had been put together only an hour before the finals. Petre and Francisco then stepped onto the tatami for the semifinals of the Men’s Dan Grade 21+ category. Both were extremely unlucky to lose their bouts; especially Francisco, who seemed to have won the match at one point with a beautifully-timed kizami-zuki spike, but was instead given a contact warning by the referee.

All thirteen competitors performed admirably, bringing home a total of seventeen medals between them. The continuance of CUKC’s glowing record at the Centrals assured, the squad made the long trip back home to Cambridge with the second major fixture of the weekend looming; the 2014 Varsity Match.