TKA London Karate Open
British Wadokai Squad members Shannan and Fallon Rayman (Kyokai Karate) and Connor Chatfield (Mushin Karate Club) traveled to Goresbrook Sports Centre in London on the 17th February 2008 to compete at the TKA London Karate Open.
This was the first outing for the squad in 2008 and they were thoroughly looking forward to the event, which was organised by Joe Anderson, Chief Instructor of Toyakwai Karate.
The competition was extremely well run and organised and the venue was large enough for them to run six areas simultaneously so the event ran smoothly. Tiered seating was on one side of the venue so the spectators had a good clear view and the seats were padded - luxury!
As usual the competition began with kata, which the organisers elected to score using the points system.
Unfortunately, Fallon and Connor were in the same category.
Fallon performed her kata first. She looked at the vast numbers of karate ka in her category and made a rough guess that a cut of approximately 8 would be taken into the next round and then the best of those would then go through to the final. As kata, at her level, cannot be repeated in subsequent rounds she played safe and performed seinchin. She chose to save her technically better kata for the following rounds. Her kata was accurate and sharp and the three judges awarded her scores of 7.1, 7.2 and 7.2 respectively. The score of 21.5 was enough to put her into a very comfortable lead. However, there were higher scoring kata toward the end of the round.
Connor was next up and chose pinan yodan. He also saved his better kata for the following rounds. A solid and focused kata saw him score 6.9, 7.2 and 7.0 and that total of 21.1 saw him sat in 6th position. Connor is relatively new to competitions at this level and was hampered by travel sickness so this was a very good score considering the circumstances.
Both Fallon and Connor looked to be going through to the next round to perform their best katas and looked certain to medal.
However, both their tactical decisions fell short when the organisers chose not to take a cut through and instead award the trophies to the highest scoring kata of that round. This meant that Fallon and Connor did not get the chance to perform their best kata, which was disappointing.
The results were called out and Fallon had to settle for the bronze this time out. Connor was very unfortunate not to medal at this event.
Shannan was in the following category and fell into the same trap. He held back with Seishan and performed Bassai Dai in the first round. His kata was sharp and he was judged with scores of 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9. His score of 20.4 saw him end the round in 4th place and miss out on a medal by 0.1 of a point. Shannan has worked hard on his kata recently and it has really improved.
Next up was the kumite. Connor and Shannan both went out in the first rounds of their kumite by 2 – 0, Connor gave points away for contact but his movement and timing have really improved, Shannan was just not as sharp or as focused as he usually is and it showed.
Fallon did really well with her kumite. She is back on top form following her recent session with Wayne Otto. The first round saw her win very comfortably 7 – 0 but she went out in the semi’s 4 – 0 to the eventual winner and with no repecharge she just missed medalling this time.
All three competitors really enjoyed their day and are looking forward to the 24th February when they will be competing in the West Midlands.