United Kingdom Karate Open
Connor Chatfield, Fallon Rayman and Shannan Rayman competed at the United Kingdom Karate Open that was held in Brierley Hill, Dudley on the 24th February.
England, Wales, Iran and Ireland were all in attendance making this Connor’s first experience of international competition.
Sensei Paul Campbell holds the event annually in February and September. Shannan competed here last year and achieved gold in the kumite and silver with his kata so he was hoping to do well here again.
The AMA were also holding their international event in Nottingham and so it was surprising to see quite so many competitors and the categories were full.
Connor and Fallon were both up first for kata and were placed in the same category for the second week running. This week the kata was judged using the flag rules. With over 30 competitors and repecharge the event looked like it would be running for some considerable time!
The rules were alternate kata and taking on board the tactical mistakes of the previous week Connor chose to perform his best kata, Wanshu. An outstanding display saw him flagged through 3 – 0 to the next round.
Fallon was next and for the second week running she chose to perform Seinchin. Unfortunately the flags went against her this week and saw a swift exit out of the event.
Almost two hours later Connor stood up to do his second kata, Seishan. The flags at the end of the round saw Connor just lose out by 2 – 1. This category finally ended after three and a half-hours!
Shannan was up next on a different area and he performed a very strong Bassai. Unfortunately, his competitors perfectly executed Jion just pipped him to the post by 2 flags to 1 by the eventual winner of the event. However, Shan did not hear his name called for his repecharge and so was disqualified missing out on a potential Bronze for British Wadokai.......
Kumite followed and Connor was first up out of the three. He had been sparring and warming up with Shannan in the training area and had been picking up some last minute tips. Connor’s kumite has improved so much in a just a week and that saw him take the lead with a well timed gyakuzuki. However, the referees’ decisions went against him today with most points being decided by the ‘reconsider’ and the points just did not go in his favour on this day.
Shannan was next to take to the mat. Shannan’s kumite was very sluggish last week but this week was a complete turnaround. Shannan is on the EKF National Squad and trains regularly with Sensei Ticky Donovan, however, he cannot select until June when he will be 16. This week scores of 10 – 1 and 9 – 0 saw him storm his way into the final which he won comfortably 8 – 0 with 35 seconds still on the clock. Competitors, coaches and spectators came and gathered around the mat to view his bouts which were full to the brim with sanbons, take downs and sharp gyakazukis which were literally ‘picking off’ his opponents. It was nice to see Shannan back on form after crashing out in the first round of last weeks event.
The day ended with Fallon’s kumite. Fallon is on good form and it showed. She stormed her way into the semi final but narrowly lost out to the eventual winner Madeline Moore so had to settle for the bronze this time out. Fallon’s kumite is improving all the time and she is looking good for this season.
This was a very good days work from these three members of the squad.