Continuing her rich vain of form, Hayley Beth Rowlands took silver at the 1st EFKO European Tournament, in Antwerp, Belgium narrowly missing out on a place to Japan, but nevertheless continuing to shine and develop on the big tournament stage.
Congratulations Hayley.
OSU!
The BKK had a busy weekend with competitors going to both the Diamond Cup in Belgium and the IKKU Scottish Open.
We had nine participants in Antwerp at the WKO event with Emma Markwell BKK securing her second diamond winning the -57kg title. In a strong field she worked her way to the final defeating Kimm Carriere from Canada in the semi.
Hayley Beth Rowlands also fought in the other semi final but lost out to the Bulgarian WKO European Champion. Its another successful step for Hayley as she works her way towards the top honours.
Also competing in the adults was Lisa Heath who made the Quarters but lost by decision to Swedish fighter Cecilia Wallin and Luke Baldwin who had a tough three rounder to the very durable Juan Carlos Auge of Spain.
The cadets had to fight with slightly different rules to what they are used to with helmets and light contact kicks to the head scoring waza ari so I don't think this suited their fighting style but it was still great experience for the three of them with Jaime May Rowlands and Jess Charsley taking joint 3rd and Luke Jones missing out to the head kick rule.
The BKK also competed in the Kata event with Janine Davies taking a credible 3rd place losing to the European Champion in the semi and Sunil Tailor missed out early on.
Meanwhile in Scotland the BKK had approximately twenty participants and they picked up lots of silverware.
We did really well in the Novice categories with gold Weronika Oleisejuk WHW , Harry Harden MLW and Dylan Baldwin MMW. Also Invictus got 2nd in MHW with Tristan Taylor and most spirited fighter Jon Joe Lawler in tough novice categories.
In the Open categories fight of the day saw MW final teammates Blake Collins and Dawid Ozga fight a tough three round battle with Collins sneaking a 3-2 decision .
Ben Watson of Westhill also deserves a mention for a very hard earned 3rd place in MHW to show he is improving all the time.
Overall the event was a tremendous success for the BKK with lots of valuable experience and we look forward to seeing them all compete at the BKK English Open in May!
Results
Diamond Cup
WLW Emma Markwell Westcroft 1st
WLW Hayley Beth Rowlands Cardiff 3rd
CGLW Jaime May Rowlands Cwmbran 3rd
CGLW Jess Charsley Verwood 3rd
Womens Kata Janine Davies Mountain Ash 3rd
Scottish Open
MMW Blake Collins Crawley 1st
MMW Dawid Ozga Crawley 2nd
MHW Ben Watson Westhill 3rd
WHW Lyndsey Moulden Ynysybwl 2nd
NWHW Weronika Olesiejuk Melton Mowbray 1st
NMLW Harry Harden Crawley 1st
NMMW Dylan Baldwin Mountain Ash 1st
NMHW Tristan Taylor Invictus 2nd
Veterans LW Sid Moulden Mountain Ash 2nd
Veterans LW Matthew Lawler Invictus 3rd
Veterans HW Dariousz Delecta West Yorkshire 3rd
Most Spirited Fighter Jon Joe Lawler Invictus
Teams England and Wales
BACK ROW (L to R)
Sensei Chris Davies (Wales coach), Maise Blackford (Eng), Luke Sabey (Eng), Luke Jones (Wales), Sophie Hobbs (Wales), Ame Sorge (Eng), Sensei Wai Cheung (Eng coach), Rob Salvi (Eng), Aaron Sheehan (Wales), Luke Davies (Wales), Max Williams (Wales), Sensei Tony White (Eng coach)
FRONT ROW (L to R)
Beth Salvi (Eng), Bart Proctor (Eng), Dennis Sorokins (Eng), Jessica Charsley (Eng), Rhys Meredith (Wales), Holly Harvey (Wales), Lili Bryan (Wales), Mia Morgan (Wales)
Results from the Sutani Belgium Youth and Beginners Tournament 2017:
Team England
Bart Procter 1st
Denis Sorokins 1st
Beth Salvi 2nd
Maesi Blackford 2nd
Ame Sorge 3rd
Team Wales
Max Williams 1st
Luke Jones 2nd
Rhys Meredith 2nd
Luke Davies 2nd
Mia Morgan 3rd
They did us proud!
This year's Severn Challenge was held in Cardiff, Wales and hosted by BKK Wales. Thanks to all those that attended, including teams from Belgium, England, Switzerland, Turkey, and the host country, Wales.
And special thanks to those behind the scenes that allowed the event to run so smoothly.
Congratulations to all winners. Results are as follows:
The fighter draw sheets for the Severn Challenge can be found below:
Cadet Boys Lightweight Group 1
Cadet Boys Lightweight Group 2