The BKK held a successful English Open 2018 on the 13th May for UK and Ireland based organisations, which included categories for Open Adult, Novice, Cadet and, for the first time in BKK history, Junior IFK Kyokushin rules fighting.
Jim Barton (BKK Verwood) dropping a well timed jodan mawashi geri
Luke Baldwin (BKK Mountain Ash, and Team GB) on his way to the 2018 English Open Middleweight Title
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