Seishinkai Shotokan Karate International sent six competitors to join forces with our friends from SEKU to once again create a joint Team England to compete in the WJKA World Championships in Remscheid, Germany.
Team England came home with seven World Championships and each competitor achieving a placing, which is an excellent achievement in the face of some stiff competition and some debatable refereeing decisions.
Adam Sensei made it into the Kata finals, finishing a disappointing 4th after performing Unsu and went out of the Kumite in the 1/4 finals, losing a tight and entertaining encounter with the competitor who eventually won the bronze medal. He then went on to take a silver medal in the Team Kata with Sam and Danny Richards. Adam, Gabriel Van Rel and Mike Grimwood then entered the Men’s Team Kumite where they advanced to the final facing another English Team, Hasha, coached by world renowned competitor George Best. 
After Adam won the first fight via Ippon, Gabriel Van Rel looked to have won the event with a fantastic ashi-barai/gyaku-zuki combination, however the referees shocked everyone at mat-side by giving the win to his opponent. Mike Grimwood narrowly lost the final bought, again after some odd refereeing decisions to mean that Team England had to settle for a silver medal.
SSKI’s Tom Carson won the Under 16 kumite Word Championship working his way through to the final where he met a competitor over a foot taller than him! Tom fought a fantastic tactical fight, neutralising his opponents reach by working him on the outside before exploding forward and score a jodan gyaku-zuki (having to jump to do so!) in encho-sen (extra time).
SSKI’s other competitors also brought home silverware, Cristy Nash winning Bronze in Kata and silver in Kumite. Danny Richards taking 4th in Kata before losing out to cousin and team mate Sam Richards in the 3rd/4th play off in the cadet kumite, an event which saw an English 1/2/3/4!
Other Team England Results
- Steve Hollister – World Champion (Veterans Kata)
- Terry Oliver – World Champion (Veterans Kumite)
- Terry/Steve/Dave – World Champions (Veterans Team Kumite)
- Claire Johns – World Champion (Ladies Kumite)
- Max Leach – World Champion (Cadet Kumite)
- Ben/Max/Harry – World Champions (Cadet Team Kumite)
- Ben Hobbs – Silver (Cadet Kumite)
- Sam/Jason/Harry – Silver (Adult Team Kata)
- Elliott Smith – Bronze (Youth Kata)
- Alana/Mike/Sam – Bronze (Mixed Team Kumite.
The only downside to the weekend were the injuries to Danny Walton (broken nose) and Rob Cooper (jaw) who both went to hospital. Both are now on the road to recovery. Get well soon boys!
More pictures can be found here
