36th European Junior & Cadet Championships, Paris, France 2009
Live reports from Paris
Posted 30th January 2009
1st Day of Competition - Cadets
What a day… It started early with the squad congregating together at 8:15 waiting for the transportation coaches to take them to the stadium for the first day of competition. All on the bus swiftly enough and were soon inside the stadium waiting for the tournament to officially start.
The Cadets, 14-15 year olds were the only ones competing today, the Juniors are on tomorrow with the under 21’s on Sunday.
The Kata competitors were on the mats first with Rachel Newey up before Mitchell Roberts had taken to the mats. Rachel performed Bassai-Dai in her opening round against her Maltese opponent’s Kanku-Dai Kata. The flags went 4-1 in Rachel’s favour safely seeing her into round 2. Her 2nd round saw her compete against a competitor from Belarus. Rachel performed her second compulsory Kata, Seienchin whilst her opponent performed Bassai-Dai. The flags went 3-2 but this time they went against Rachel scuppering her European medal hope by the narrowest of margins.
Mitchell received a 1st round bye and was straight into the 2nd round with a choice of compulsory Katas to perform. Mitchell performed Bassai-Dai but his opponents Kanku-Dai won the round with a 4 flags to 1 decision.
The Kumite competitors were up next with Oliver Doyland competing in the Male U52kg category. Oli received a warning within the first 10 seconds in his opening round fight but held it together scoring a Gyakuzuki punch and then picking up another point from his German opponent to win the fight 2-0. Oli’s 2nd round fight was against a Spanish opponent and both athletes went the whole two minutes without scoring a point against each other. In the extra-time the ensued, the Spaniard scored a 3 point Jodan Mawashigeri kick almost immediately. It took Oli nearly the whole remaining minute to level the score with his own Jodan Mawashigeri. With the scores tied at 3-3 following extra-time a vote was called, 2 flags each but the referee’s decision went to the Spaniard knocking Oli out in the cruellest of ways.
Chloe Cooper competed in the U47kg event and looked like one of the smallest competitors in this event. She fought a Ukrainian opponent in the 1st round and received a few hard knocks for which her opponent gave away 3 points in total. Chloe held her opponent off until the dying seconds where the Ukrainian girl delivered a 3 point Jodan Mawashigeri to level the score and take the fight into extra-time. After one minute of extra-time the scores remained unchanged and the decision went to the judge’s vote. All voted for Chloe who progressed into the next round. Round 2 saw her fight like a little lion spurred on by her previous win to take the match 6-0 against her Greek opponent. The 3rd round proved a little tougher for her as she fought a tricky Croatian. Chloe scored the first point with a Gyakuzuki punch with 45 seconds remaining but just 15 seconds later her opponent equalised to level the fight 1-1 and take it into extra-time for her. Once again extra-time failed produce a score from either competitor and the judge’s decision was called once more. Surprisingly she lost the vote 4-0 even though \Chloe did most of the pressing and attacking. Fortunately the Croatian went on to make the final leaving Chloe in the repechage rounds. After almost missing her semi-final repechage match she finally scores with just over a minute left on the clock and holds out for the win over her Armenian opponent. Now in the repechage final and going for Bronze she found herself up against a tough ‘leggy’ Turkish opponent. The Turkish girl scored a 3 point Jodan Mawashigeri against Chloe very early on and then caught her again shortly after. Chloe began to fight back claiming a point to reduce the deficit but as she pressed she was caught once again by a Jodan Mawashigeri kick ending her bronze medal hopes losing 9-1.
Kate Karwacinski competing in the U54kg event followed Chloe but failed to make it past the opening round as she was caught by a Jodan Mawashigeri kick 30 seconds from time. Kate tried to get the points back but just couldn’t get through the Belgium’s guard to score.
The best result of the day was Ryan Jay securing Gold in the U57kg event. Receiving a 1st round bye it was straight into the 2nd round. Ryan scored the initial opening point against his Spanish opponent but gave away a penalty point towards the end levelling the scores and taking his fight into 1 minute of extra time. Ryan made no mistakes as he scored a 3 point Jodan Mawashigeri kick to win the match 3-0. The 3rd round pitted Ryan against a tougher Slovenian opponent. Ryan took the initial lead and extended it to 2 points with another Gyakuzuki punch. However, Ryan gave away a penalty point to his opponent before extending it he lead once more. The fight finished 3-2 in Ryan’s favour seeing him into the semi-finals. The Hungarian opponent was no match for Ryan who scored a Gyakuzuki punch and followed it up with a Jodan Mawashigeri to win the fight 4-0 and make the final. Ryan’s final was held at the end of the evening following the opening ceremony. Ryan faced a Greek opponent but had no plans on handing any golds back to Greece. Ryan did drop an early point getting caught in the Greeks Gyakuzuki punch but quickly levelled with his own Gyakuzuki punch. Ryan followed this up with a Jodan Mawashigeri. As Ryan’s opponent advances to reduce the deficit Ryan picked him off with another Jodan Mawashigeri. His opponent did manage to steal a point at the end but it was too little, too late as Ryan becomes European Champion with an 8-2 victory win behind him.
Harley Del-Rio fought in the U63kg category and was unlucky not to walk away with a medal finishing joint 5th overall. Harley’s 1st round fight finished in a 2-2 after he initially lost the first two opening scores. The extra-time round saw both competitors failing to score and so it went to the judge’s decision. All voted for Harley. The 2nd round saw Harley against in another close match against a lad from Scotland. Once again the scores remained tied at full time, 0-0 this time round. Extra-time once again but Harley scored a point with a Gyakuzuki punch. Shortly before the end his opponent was penalised for excessive contact giving Harley that all important extra point to see out the match with a 2-0 win. The 3rd round and yet another tied score. Harley initially dropped the first point in this hard and fast fight with his Serbian opponent but levelled the score with 37 seconds left on the clock. Midway through extra-time, Harley scored a lovely Gyakuzuki punch and held the point advantage till the end scoring as the buzzer went to settle the match. Harley’s next fight was the semi-final against a Turkish opponent. The initial point went Harley’s way as did the second point but the Turkish opponent found his way ‘over-the-top’ scoring on three continuous occasions to take a 3-2 lead. As the buzzer sounded Harley landed a Gyakuzuki punch but the referee would not award the point after some consultation. Harley was in the repechage final though facing an Azerbaijani opponent. Harley fought the repechage final cagey but got caught twice with a Gyakuzuki punch to trail 2-0. The last 15 seconds saw Harley really go for it but just didn’t have enough time to find a way past his opponents defence. Harley just missed out on Bronze settling for joint 5th overall.
Adam Clements competed in the under 70kgs event and faced a Dutch opponent in his opening round. Adam dropped an early point but 2 warnings for holding and pushing to his opponent levelled the score to 1-1. After a slight break in proceedings to tend to Adams nose, he came out firing but quickly dropped 2 points to a Chudan Mawashigeri. Adams opponent then feigned an injury giving 2 points back to Adam to level the scores at 3-3. With 8 seconds remaining Adam’s opponent holds once again and receives his final warning for disqualification, handing the match to Adam. The second round saw Adam pitted against a Belarus opponent. With the scores 3-2 against Adam and only seconds remaining on the clock, Adam not only managed to level the score but nicked a final point to win the match 4-3. The third round saw and England V France encounter. Both athletes went for a Gyakuzuki punch but the score went to the French competitor. The French opponent scored again before Adam started giving away penalty points. A Jodan kick and 2 Gyakuzuki punches saw the French competitor win 8-0, leaving Adam in the reperchage rounds. Adam needed to win 2 rounds to claim bronze but failed in the semi final round against his Serbian opponent. Both went in for a Gyakuzuki punch in the first 10 seconds but the score went to the Serbian. On the minute he was another point down and shortly after that, 2 more points down as each time he punched the Serbian was given the score instead. This left Adam having to settle for joint 7th place.
Joshua Gagon had a thumping encounter with his Slovakian opponent in the +70kgs category. Joshua looked like he was on his way with a 3 point lead only to let it slip at the end making the scores level at 3 all and taking the match into extra time. Once again Joshua opened the scoring but then gave away too many penalties and had to bow out in his opening round match losing 7-3.
Hannah Baker lost the initial point to her Turkish opponent in the opening round of the +54kgs event however, Hannah scored a thumping chudan Mawashigeri with 20 seconds left to take the lead. Within the final 10 seconds her opponent pushed her giving away a penalty point and extending Hannah’s lead to 3-1. The 2nd round pitted Hannah against a tall Russian girl but she was unperturbed and scored on the minute to take a 1-0 lead. 30 seconds later Hannah doubled her lead scoring another Gyakuzuki punch to finish off her opponent. The third round saw Hannah score a Gyakuzuki punch on the minute once again against a Slovakian opponent and frustrate her opponent to keep the 1-0 lead to the end securing a win. The fourth round was the semi final against Bosnia Hertz. Hannah was 1-0 up within 10 seconds and 20 seconds later 2-0 up. Hannah scored her 3rd point before the half way mark, and 2 more Gyakuzuki punches saw her extend her lead to 5-0 . Hannah’s opponent scored a last minute point but it made no difference to the outcome and securing her place in the final. Like Ryan before her, her final was held after the opening ceremony in the centred spotlighted mat. Hannah fought a cagey fight against her Belgium opponent but dropped an early point and another towards the end which ended up her claiming a silver medal.
Hannahs fight was the last of the day and after the medal ceremony everyone headed back to the hotel for dinner and an early night. The coach’s congratulated everyone as did the EKF President Carl Lindley. After some encouraging words for the squad competing tomorrow everyone made their way back to their rooms for an early night.
Thank you to all the supporters, friends and families who came to watch and support the younger members of the team. Good luck for everyone tomorrow.