KUGB Central Regions Championships 2015

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

Cambridge Representatives:

Jaan Toots
Francisco Martinez
Herve Vandekerkhove
Tiina Pajuste
Justina Ogunseitan
Ronald Prokes
Scott Ang Yiqiang
Marcus Imgham
Jonathan Sinclair-­Williams
Amy Oliver

It is safe to say there was huge success and joy amongst our members after the Central Region Championships. The competition took place on Saturday the 14th of March in Chesterfield, and we had a fantastic turnout of 10 members to this already very large event.

Individual Kata

Across our team we brought lots of well-­deserved medals from the individual kata. Beginning with the Kyu grades, Jaan made it into the semi-­final, but unfortunately did not go on to place a medal on this occasion. Amy on the other hand did very well and brought back the silver medal using Sandan and Yondan. In women’s dan grade, competitors were very close and in the semi-­final individuals had to repeat katas as many as three times to make it to the final, with Tiina being one of the four who made it through. Tiina then went on to perform a fantastic kata, winning her the bronze medal. The male dan grade kata also achieved several medals. Jonathan unfortunately did not make it through to the semi-­finals as he performed Enpi, however we had Marcus, Scott and Ronald who all did. Ronald performed Enpi in both elimination rounds and got a very high score, although due to a mistake on the judges’ side his name was not called for the final! Luckily Richard instantly realised something was wrong and Ron was relieved when his name was then called forward to the finals! Scott also performed Enpi and Marcus used Unsu so they both joined Ron in the final. In the final Scott performed Jion, Marcus with Enpi, Ron and the other finalist Jack Somers both did Gojushihosho. All of the four had very sharp katas making it very difficult to distinguish them. The results came in and Scott and Ron both brought back bronze, Marcus got the Silver, and Jack won the gold. Overall this was a fantastic result for Cambridge bringing back so many medals in the kata.

Individual Kumite

There was a high standard in the individual kumite, but as always Cambridge were able to secure some brilliant wins. Jaan wasn’t so lucky due to a jodan punch, he not only lost but also came out with a nosebleed even though he fought very well! Jonathan also lost in the first round against Jack Somers after Jack was first on a chudan gyaku zuki. Scott was also unfortunate enough to be knocked out of the competition in the first round so we didn’t have the best start! Amy did well in kumite as she fought hard and was then able to win the first individual kumite medal as a bronze making that her second medal. Justina won her first fight, went onto the second fight to win with an ippon, but in the third fight it was very close and lost by a waza-ari chudan. This meant alongside Amy she had won a bronze. The last competitors we had in the kumite were our two England squad members Francisco and Herve. They both won all their fights to get them to the semi-­final only to be put against one another. Their match had lots of waiting with each knowing exactly how the other fights making them both very cautious. Herve got a waza-­ari, followed by Frank and then the bell went. After extra time, both competitors had knackered each other out with Francisco going through to the final. In the final he faced another England squad member Greg Hegarty from Solihull. The two were closely matched but Francisco could not get the points needed to win leaving him with a silver and Herve with the bronze.

Team Kata

After success in varsity the trio of Scott, Jonathan and Ronald joined together again for a shot at the team kata category. They easily cleared both elimination rounds with Jion, all three were incredibly happy when they made it through to the final. They had high hopes, and weren’t planning on settling for bronze after they had already made it this far. Out of the four finalists they were up third, and went in with Enpi, the same kata used to crush Oxford. The scoreboards came in, and they were high. They saw 5.7s and it dawned on them they had beaten the previous two teams! However Ipswich A were up next, containing Jack Somers whose high standards meant he went on to win individual kata and kumite. This was the team they had always feared the most and knew it would be close. They also performed Enpi and scores went up. 5.7s and 5.6s, at this point the Cambridge team realised they were taking the gold medals home and let out a cheer! All three were absolutely delighted as they went to not only take the gold medals but the trophy that accompanied the gold.

Team Kumite

One of the most sought after trophies with high competition was brought to Cambridge this year. This is the male team kumite with the team consisting of two England squad members Francisco and Herve, then Scott and Jonathan. The other teams were undoubtedly tough! On one of the knock out round against South Notts, Frank was up first and secured a win with Scott to follow who bravely fought someone far larger than he was and also won a victory, putting them through to the final. In the last fight of this round Herve was up against a closely matched opponent, there were many unclean hits coming from the opposition, almost injuring Herve, and unfortunately the fight was lost but they were already through so it did not matter. In the final Cambridge were up against Solihull with their first competitor was a very skilled England squad member so Cambridge decided to put Scott up against first as a tactical decision. Unfortunately Scott was swept to the ground at which point an ippon was scored against him. After this Frank and Herve managed to quickly get the points in during their fights meaning two out of three fights were won. This meant Cambridge won another trophy presented by Frank Brennan.