SSKI sent a small squad of three to the 1st WTKO Ireland Championships in Dublin, hosted by Scott Langley Sensei 6th Dan. This event has in fact been running for a number of years but the first under the WTKO banner.
Competitors came from across both Northern and Southern Ireland plus SSKI’s English contigent and a group from Nottingham.
Dylan Freeman winning bronze in Kumite
First up was Dylan Freeman from SSKI Watford, competing in the Under 15 Senior Kata. He performed three excellent Heian kata to put himself in the final 4 against 3 experienced blackbelts. A solid performance of Jion wasn’t enough to pick up a medal and the event was won with an excellent rendition of Enpi kata.
Adam and James Baldwin were up next in the Men’s Senior Kata, with Adam Sensei finding himself in the final after performing Heian Godan and Shodan. His final kata of Unsu was enough to win the event by 0.1.
Men’s Senior Kata. Adam winning Gold.
Dylan’s day then got even better in the 13-15 kumite. Despite being the smallest in the field, the most junior and breaking his toe in the warm up, he fought with spirit, courage and skill to get into the semi finals only being beaten by a much larger blackbelt opponent in a closely fought match. Well done Dylan!
Men’s Senior Kumite. Adam winning Silver.
The final event of the day was the Men’s Senior Kumite and again Adam found himself in the final, this time against WTKO Honbu Dojo Instructor, Mark Sheridan. Mark Sensei is a very experienced competitor and won this year’s Irish Open National title. Mark Sensei took the title in a closely fought match.
Final
Semi Final
Kata Final – Unsu
This was a small but high quality tournament and SSKI will definitely be supporting it again in the future.
