Members of the Holloway-based High Peak Kyokushin karate club have again impressed on the national stage, coming away with four trophies from the annual IKO British Open Championships at Ware, Hertfordshire. The select team consisted of two adults – Rosanna Scrase (18) and Adam Tkacz (23) – and four juniors – Sean Bullas (15), Robert Sulley (9), Elise Neville (11) and Archie Neville (9). This premier event in the IKO calendar was attended by 20 clubs and featured a very large number of entrants.
In the Clicker section, Robert Sulley fought hard but was eliminated in the first round, together with Elise Neville. Brother Archie Neville had to fight through more rounds than anyone else, and reached the final in the 8-9yrs category. Perhaps due to the number of fights he had had, he just lost the final.
Rosanna Scrase fought for the first time in the adult category and was pitted against Senpai Cathy Petch, an extremely talented and tough 2nd Dan. Rosie’s final was well balanced and very creditable, losing only to Senpai Cathy’s greater experience.
Knockdown was next and Elise Neville, perhaps spurred on by her brother’s success in the clicker, smashed her way through several opponents to be narrowly defeated in a semi final but still get 3rd place.
Sean Bullas then defended his 14-15 yrs knockdown title from last year and looked well on the way, completely dominating the fight. In the last 30 seconds however, a lapse of concentration let a single head kick through and although Sean was completely unaffected by it, it was enough to force the judges to award victory to his opponent.
Finally, Adam Tkacz stepped up for the men’s middleweight knockdown and his current intense training regime paid off with the club is extremely proud to now have the current British Men’s Knockdown champion as a member.
Senpai Pete Appleton was thrilled with the results. “It was brilliant day out for the club once again with four trophies in the premier IKO event.” He added: “It is particularly satisfying for Adam and Rosie who can use it as a measure of their preparedness for black belt, and again for Archie and Elise who seem to be going from strength to strength, so much that it’s easy to forget they have been training well under a year and are only attempting their second grading later this month. “I am extremely proud of all six competitors, all of whom are a credit to the club and this demanding style of karate.”
The Waverly Karate Club recently sent three members to Minneapolis for the World Tang Soo Do Association’s Region 3 2010 Championships.
