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3rd IFK U-18 World Tournament 2011
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As you know on the 23rd July Crawley hosted the 3rd IFK U-18 World Tournament at K2 with over 100 participants from 17 different countries, all sending their top fighters. Crawley were honoured to have 4 club members chosen for the GB Squad - Josh Mays and Blake Collins competing in the junior clicker section as individuals and in both GB teams with Josh in Team A & Blake Collins in Team B - Dawid Ozga and Yusmin Khan competing in the cadets category fighting Kyokushin Rules.
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The day started off with the opening ceremony and all the fighters lining up. It was at this point when Hanshi Steve Arneil was awarded with his 10th Dan for his service and commitment to the BKK and IFK, receiving his new belt in total shock and surprise. Hanshi Steve Arneil was the pioneer and founder of the BKK/IFK and is the reason that the fashion & good form of Kyokushin Karate exists in this country today. In 1965 he was sent over from Japan to teach the Kyokushin philosophy and has worked tremendously hard to build and maintain the organisation we are all proud to be a part of. Crawley Dojo has been a special part of his teachings from the beginning, we honour and acknowledge his promotion to 10th Dan with pride.
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The tournament kicked off with the team events first, Great Britain's Team A with Josh Mays as the captain winning in style not losing a fight and cruising through to the next round. Great Britain's Team B with Blake Collins won their first team event also not losing a fight. Both teams showed class and superior techiniques above all the other country's teams to make it through to the final, meaning an all GB final with teams A & B. It was a intense final with massive support from the home crowd, GB Team A came through with a 4-1 victory after a good show of skill all round. Josh Mays with his Team A came 1st securing Gold & the World Title for Great Britain, Blake Collins with his Team B came 2nd taking Silver. It was ironic that the 2 crawley lads would be paired against each other in the final, Josh coming out the victor.
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Josh Mays and Blake Collins were also in the boys individual clicker category, both looking sharp after getting through the nerves of the first round comfortably and getting into their stride. Blake unfortunately narrowly lost in the quarter finals to Cardiff star Jordan Prescott just putting him outside of the medals. Josh fought all the way to the semi finals, were he fought talented Dan Small from Docklands Dojo, the fight was again a close affair and Josh was pipped to victory by just one point leaving him content with 3rd Place. Dan Small went on impressively winning in style against his club mate Jordan Da Costa. Great Britain had a clean sweep in this category winning all the trophies taking 1st, 2nd, & joint 3rd Places on the World Stage.
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Yusmin Khan fought in the Girls Cadet Heavyweight category fighting Kyokushin Rules. Yusmin started off looking good and halfway through the first round she was caught with a mae geri (front kick) to the stomach and was dropped giving a wazari (half point) away. The fight resumed and was later caught with a hizza geri (knee kick) to the body and again was downed by the blow giving her opponent an ippon (full point)losing the fight and keeping her outside of the medals.
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Dawid Ozga the last of the Crawley talent in the competition was in the Boys Cadet Lightweight category also fighting Kyokushin Rules. Dawid fought extremely well impressing the onlookers in the first round with his strength and techinique. He disposed of his first opponent with a Mae geri (front kick) to the body, downing him for over 5 seconds and giving and impressive first round ippon (full point) winning the fight, he then went on to the semi finals to fight a Russian. This was probably one of the best fights of the tournament with both boys equally matched in skill and power, giving rounds 1 and 2 as a draw, going into the 3rd and final round Dawid began to tire giving the Russian the upper hand and deserved victory, despite giving a very good account of himself, Dawid will surely put the narrow loss to rights in the future being content with a 3rd place for now on the World Stage.
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Congratulations to all the Crawley Members chosen to compete in this Prestigious World Event, keeping up the high reputation that Crawley Dojo has built up over the years with current & past fighters putting us in good stead for our future. If you would like to train amongst our top fighters & champions within the Crawley Dojo, please contact our chief instructor and current Adult GB Kyokushin Knockdown Coach Shihan David Pickthall on: 07723 603635, for our training times and further information please visit our home page.
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Special thanks to Sensei Darren Stringer for this report.
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