The Gyaku Zuki is back!
The SAKAI Association had yet another very successful weekend competing this time at the Budo Nord Irish International Open in Dublin at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena.
Matthew Pratt continued his build up for the WKF [World Karate Federation] World Championship in Chile at the end of October, by winning both the Cadet +70kgs & Cadet Open Weight categories. This was a very measured and controlled performance by this young athlete in his preparation to take the world stage by storm in October.
On the opening day of the championship we also saw Kyle McLean [Senior -75kgs category] and Aiden Tobin [Cadet -52kgs category] putting in solid performances and just missing out on BRONZE medal spots.
Young Team you did us proud!
Day Two of the championship opened up with Dundee’s Pocket Rocket Daisy Hutchison losing out on flags in a no score draw in the final giving her a SILVER spot on the podium on this occasion.
Next up on the tatami we had the silent assassin Caitlin Dunn [8-9yrs +29kgs category] going one better than her club mate and securing SAKAI’s first GOLD medal of the day.
Miss Eve Watt [10-11yrs +33kgs category] was buzzing from seeing her teammates achieving podium places and came out of the blocks all guns blazing and swept aside all of her adversaries with ease to secure another GOLD medal for SAKAI.
The squad then secured a further four BRONZE medal podium places with:
- Xander Dunn [12-13yrs +42kgs category]
- Lewis Bryson [12-13yrs -42kgs category]
- Scott Collins [10-11yrs -34kgs category]
- Filip Zmudzinski [10-11yrs -34kgs category]
The “Blue Ribbon” Team Events were up next which saw our athletes secure three GOLD Medal Team Titles in the following categories respectively:
- Girls Under 12yrs
- Boys Under 12yrs
- Boys Under 14yrs
A special mention should be given to: Eve Watt, Scott Collins and Xander Dunn for their contribution in securing their respective team’s championship titles.
So in summery what a performance these eleven athletes put in over the weekend securing the SAKAI Association 4th place in the overall ranking from the 724 total entries, which just reinforces that the athlete selection process is functioning very effectively.
