36th European Junior & Cadet Championships, Paris, France 2009
Live reports from Paris
Posted 1st February 2009
3rd Day of Competition - Juniors
The final day of the championships and the Under 21 year olds take to the mat to finish off what’s already been a great championship for England. The coaches really praised up the squad during dinner last night and the squad is buoyed and ready for action today.
At the stadium some more supporters turned up with their England supporters kit, handing out mini flags, hooters, party screamers, pinned up England bunting and placed flags around the seating areas. England certainly got noticed!
Up first on the mat was Reisha Hull competing in the U60kg event. Facing a Spanish opponent both fighters come out firing but as both launch a Jodan Mawashigeri, the Spanish fighter got the 3 points. Reisha attacked again but all the points seemed to be going to Spain. At 6-0 down, Reisha received a contact warning giving Spain another point which was shortly added to following another decision going Span’s way. Reisha bows out early 8-0 even though she fought really well, she just didn’t get any of the decisions today against the Spaniard. Reisha’s winning opponent made it to the final allowing Reisha the chance to fight in the repechage rounds for a bronze medal. Kicking a series of Ura-Mawashigeri’s Reisha scored 3 points to take an early opening lead over her Danish opponent in her repechage semi-final round. The lead was held until the dying seconds where Reisha giave away a contact warning point reducing her lead. A non-contact warning went against Reisha in the last second but that didn’t affect the result as she progressed into the repechage final. The repechage final was against Germany with both fighters being a little cagey at the start. The first point was awarded to the German on the minute mark and she scored another as Reisha was caught with a punch after trying a Chudan Mawashigeri kick. Reisha pursued her opponent but got caught again and the fight ended with Reisha losing 4-0 settling for 5th overall after just missing out on European bronze.
The complete opposite opening round for Carla Burkitt fighting in the U53kg event. Carla came out fast and sharp and the Macedonian opponent had no reply to Carla’s fast hands as she scored with practically every attack. Carla walked off the mat early an 8-0 winner. Carla’s 2nd round fight was a lot tougher as she walked into a Jodan Mawashigeri kick within the opening seconds of the fight. A Gyakuzuki punch reply from Carla reduced the deficit to 2 points and she pressurised her Turkish opponent into every corner trying to score. But the next point went Turkey’s way making the score 4-1. A contact warning for the Turkish fighter reduced the score to 4-2 but Carla just simply ran out of time to claw the points back. Carla made the repechage semi-final and faced a Swiss opponent in this round. Carla scored the opening point with 30 seconds gone. Another point to Carla and a penalty point for contact given away by the Swiss saw Carla take a 4 point lead. Another point opened the gap to 5 and another Swiss warning gave Carla a 7-0 lead. A final point going Carla’s way and she sees off her opponent with a convincing 8-0 leaving Carla in the repechage final fighting for bronze. In the final the opening point goes to Carla against her Hungarian opponent but gives away a contact warning point levelling the score at 1-1. Carla extends her lead again with a Gyakuzuki punch and scores with it again to lead 3-1. A Jodan Gyakuzuki 1 point score extended her lead to 4-1 and another took it to 5-1. Then 6-1 almost immediately after just being awarded her 5th point. Carla gave away another warning and 2 points went to the Hungarian bringing the scores back to 6-3, but Carla held on till the end to claim European Bronze medal.
The boys were up next with Ross Mathieu competing in the U68kg event facing a Georgian opponent in his opening round. Both fighters come out charging and an energetic fight ensued but neither fighter scored until the end where the first point went against Ross. Ross then got penalised for the second time for contact giving away a vital point. As Ross chassed the fight he was caught once again at the death eventually bowing out early 3-0 down despite his spirited effort.
Gareth Hains competed in the U78kg event and faced a big opponent from Belarus. Both fighters scrapped hard but neither scored until near the end. With 15 seconds left on the clock Gareth’s opponent nicked a vital point to take the lead. Gareth tried to get the point back by the clock ran down before he could reply and was another early casualty like Ross on the other mat.
After a lengthy break for the supporters, they found their voice again as both Rio Smith and Michael Campbell both take to the mats at the same time but at opposite ends of the hall.
Rio Smith faced a Slovakian opponent in her opening round fight of the Over 60kg event. Rio started well throwing a number of techniques at her opponent but lost the opening point early on herself. Rio continued to press trying to level the scores but just couldn’t pin her opponent down. With 23 seconds left on the clock, the Slovakian caught Rio once more to extend her lead to 2 points and put the fight beyond Rio as the clock ran down. Rio did make repechage as her opponent made the finals and Rio faced an Greek opponent in her repechage opening round. Rio starts well and is denied and opening Jodan Mawashigeri score as her opponent stepped out of the area. Another step out and Rio received the first point following the Greeks warning. Rio then got a bonus 2 more points as her opponent steps out once more backing away from Rio’s barrage. Rio uncannily then got caught four times by her opponent counter Gyaking her to lose the lead to her opponent with the score to 4-3 now against her. She pursued her opponent until the end but couldn’t score against her bowing out before the medal round.
Michael Campbell was competing in the Over 78kg event and faced a Macedonian opponent in his opening round encounter on the mat in front of the England supporters which ensured he got a lot of encouragement as the sound of ‘Come on England’ flooded the stadium. Michael did well scoring the opening point with a Gyakuzuki punch and followed it up early on with another to double his lead. Michael then swept his opponent to score picking up another 3 points for the technique. His opponent did reply with a 2 point Chudan Mawashigeri kick but Michael wasn’t going to let the lead slip and scored another Gyakuzuki punch to see out the fight 6-2. Michael’s 2nd round fight against the Serbian was close going to extra-time and the vote. Michael got the opening Gyakuzuki point with a sweet clean punch but then got caught with an over-the-top Jodan Gyakuzuki to level the score. Michael regained the lead but dropped the last point at the death levelling the match once again. The extra-time minute fight ensued with Michael taking a knock mid way through the fight which gave him a point following the Serbian’s contact warning. Michael doubled the score to 2-0 before the Serbian replied with his own Gyakuzuki. Michael then dropped the last point following a step out of the area at the death which once again tied the score calling for the judges vote which all went Michael’s way seeing him into the next round. Michael then faced a Dutch opponent in the next round and went 1-0 down early on. Shortly after he was 2-0 down falling to another Gyakuzuki. Michael harassed his opponent trying to score but slipped on the mat and his opponent went in to score 3 points. However, the points were withdrawn as Michael had received contact to the face. Still 2-0 Michael chased the fight again but slipped at the end blowing his chances of catching his opponent to bring back the score. Michael looked sharp but was just unlucky this time round.
And so the day ended with another Bronze for the squad courtesy of Carla Burkitt meaning the squad medalled at every level, cadets through to the U21’s. The final squad tally for England from these Junior European Championships was a 1-2-3; 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze totalling 6 medals, one of the largest hauls for a long time.
The squad have been fantastic its’ been a great week filled with some wonderful memories, the team have been truly inspirational. The squad have set a standard now for all to aspire to. The England National Squad are back where they belong, roll on the world championships in Morocco Oss!
It’s been a privilege to bring you daily updates on the squad progress, and include photos of the training and competing. The web masters at Jelinet have been working tirelessly too to download the reports, sort and sift through the photos and edit the video clips so the EKF members and general public have a website that is the best Karate website in the world for news and information. Big OSS to them to as it has been a real team effort all round.