KUGB National Championships 2019

The KUGB National Championships are held annually and feature the most talented karateka in the KUGB. Any CUKC member can compete.

Photos

View photos of the competition.

Competition Report

The KUGB championships took place at the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Saturday 11th May.

This is the National championships of the organisation of which we are a member. For 53 years, clubs from all over the UK including Northern Ireland, have participated and is a renowned battle ground for the best in the KUGB.

The two CUKC kumite teams entered incurred their own challenges prior to the event and featured two walking wounded (Herve - long term knee injury and Marcus - on crutches last week) and one bike accident - Michael. This whittled our entry to one team before the championships started. However that one team contained the formidable line up of Herve Vandekerkhove, Francisco Martinez, Chris Hamilton and Jerome Vanderkerkhove.

This sounds like an extended excuse for poor performance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite these significant hurdles, the one remaining CUKC Men's senior kumite team, who were seeded following last years performance, dispatched Malvern and Kirkby A with relative ease. This took them to the final against previous Champions - Leeds whose team contained two World and European champions.

During the last event of the championships, Chris, Francisco and Jerome fought a punishing battle in the final of the men's team kumite before losing 2:1 to Leeds. This was a truly magnificent performance.

In the individual events Marcus performed well in kata but was disadvantaged due to a foot injury and did not make the finals.

Herve met world (WSKA) kumite champion Ethan Armstrong in his first fight and was beaten.

Francisco, Jerome and Chris all won their early fights until inevitably Francisco fought Chris, with Francisco's experience proving a crucial factor in his win. Unfortunately none made it to the finals.

Francisco however, can take some comfort in the fastest Ippon of the day. He encountered an opponent who immediately attacked with a flurry of maewashi geris. Francisco responded by catching his leg, and then removing his supporting leg with a well timed ashi bari, thus dumping him on his back to receive the 'coup de grace' - a powerful downward punch to the body - a masterclass in delivering the ultimate decisive technique.

CUKC members should be immensely proud of those who have represented our club which such success at the highest level. Congratulations to Herve, Francisco, Chris and Jerome on their well deserved silver medals.

Recent Competition Videos

The Varsity Match

The Varsity Match is an annual competition between the karate clubs of Cambridge and Oxford Universities. In the match, which is usually held in February, two men's teams and a women's team from each university compete in kata, team kata and kumite for the three team titles and the overall trophy, the Enoeda Cup.

Varsity 2019

Winners of the Enoeda Cup 2019: Cambridge

Team results:

• Men's A: Cambridge
• Men's B: Cambridge
• Women's: Oxford

See the full report.