News from 2018

At the end of November a number of Leeds Shotokan Members swapped their Leeds tracksuit for an England one as they jetted off Niš, Serbia for the European Shotokan Karate Association Championships.

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Sensei Ryan Tucker, Caroline McGrath, Ethan Armstrong, Jade Stapleton-Smith and Luciano Zanuni were joined by Miranda Moualeu who was making her KUGB England debut at this level. A fantastic achievement by Miranda, one that we hope will be continued for many years to come. It is absolutely fantastic to see so many of Leeds Shotokan's talented karateka contributing to the national team.

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With the training over, the competition began with the Cadet events, with Jade and Luciano hoping to carry their extraordinary success from the youth category into this years championships. In the individual events Jade fought brilliantly on his way to a Bronze medal. This capped an amazing year for Jade in which he claimed the KUGB National Championship.

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Jade and Luciano, along with Niall Gilligan from Solihull Karate Academy and Matthew Gibson from Sunderland Sendai, then fought in the Cadet Male Team Kumite event. After coming through an incredibly tough semi final against the Czech Republic the boys were matched up against Portugal in the final. An incredibly tense match saw England needing a win from Luciano in the final fight in order to draw the match and force an extra fight. Luciano put in his best performance of the whole championships to give England a chance with an extra fight. Luciano was selected by Sensei Sherry to be compete in the fight off. Luciano again fought brilliantly well but unfortunately the better rested Portuguese fighter managed to come away with the victory.

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Despite the obvious disappointment the young England team showed great character and trust in each other and should be very proud of their accomplishment.

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The following day saw Miranda Moualeu and James Humphries compete. Miranda fought very well against a tough Russian opponent and gained invaluable experience which will really push her on in the coming years. James Humphries has endured a frustrating year with injuries and was noticable stuggling as he took to the tatami. However James scored some wonderful points eventually losing to the Russian bronze medallist.

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The final day saw the seniors in action with Sensei Ryan, Caroline and Ethan all competing. New Leeds signing Caroline looked sharp and scored some excellent points however fell short of a medal this time. Caroline also fought in the senior ladies team who were looking to defend the title they won in 2017. Unfortunately it wasnt to be as the ladies were incredible unlucky to lose a close match with Lithuania due to disqualification.

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Ryan and Ethan once again fought alongside each other in the Senior Male Team Kumite event. KUGB England were the reigning World and European Champions heading into the event and had to dig incredibly deep to get past a much improved Belgian team in the Semi Final.The final was a much less tense affair with England coming away with a decisive 4-1 victory against a very strong Italian side. The win gave England their third European Title in a row!

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The day, and the championships, belonged to Ethan Armstrong. In what is undoubtedly one of the most special days in Leeds Shotokan's long history, Ethan was crowned the Senior Mens Individual Kumite Champion. In his first year as a senior, having suffered the disappointment of disqualification in the final last year, Ethan fought through many tough and skilled opponents. The final was an all England affair as Ethan took on current World Champion and team mate Joe Rawcliffe. Ethan and Joe have battled many times this year, with both of them coming out on top. On this occasion Ethan walked away with the European Title. 

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Congratulations to all who competed especially those from KUGB England who became European Champions, Rebecca Rawcliffe of Halewood and Callum Wilson of St Johns.