KUGB Central Regions Championships 2018

The KUGB Central Regions Championships is held annually during the competition-filled Lent Term. The competition is open to all KUGB affiliated clubs in the centre of the country and is held in Chesterfield.

Photos

View photos of the competition.

Competition Report

The annual KUGB Central Regions Competition in Chesterfield is always a good way to show strength and skill for all KUGB clubs in central England. And as usual CUKC sent a powerful squad and returned with numerous medals! In fact each and every member of the team reached the finals this year and brought a medal home!



The day started with the kata categories, where Iulia, Parwana and Philip represented CUKC in the kyu grades categories. Since all three had significant competition experience they managed to get through the elimination rounds with ease and confidently reached the finals. Here, Iulia performed a very strong Heian Nidan, impressing the referees enough to award her the gold medal. Parwana secured a well deserved 3rd place with a sound Heian Godan. Philip, competing in the corresponding male category, achieved a silver medal.

The CUKC dan grade line up comprised Herve, Michael and Marcus. Despite decent performances Herve and Michael were defeated early on by the strong competition. Marcus, however, made his way through the rounds, reaching the finals and winning gold with his world-famous Unsu.




Following these first successes the kumite part of the day was on. The kyu grade side of the team was embodied by Philip. With cunning tactics and excellent coaching by his dan grade colleagues he won his 3 elimination fights and reached the final. Here he faced a handy opponent, who beat him in a tight and exciting fight, leaving him with a deserved silver medal.



In the dan grade individual kumite category CUKC was represented by Michael, Marcus, Francisco and Herve. While Michael slipped unluckily during an elimination fight the other three all reached the semi finals, making it an almost-CUKC-only final round. To make sure the gold medal went to one of us Herve quickly eliminated the non-CUKC competitor from the list and entered the final. The other semi-final was composed of Francisco and Marcus. Knowing about Francisco's excellent kumite skills Marcus put everything into his first attack, a swift and powerful kizame-tsuki/mawashi-geri combination, and managed to win by Ippon. The final was a hard and long shobu-sanbon fight, with both competitors showing their will to win. In the end Herve succeeded winning gold, over the silver medal for Marcus and a worthy bronze for Francisco.







However, the event of the day was still to come: The team kumite matches. After dominating the individual events the CUKC team, again consisting of Michael, Marcus, Francisco and Herve, was the clear top-favourite. As expected, they won their 2 elimination rounds 3-0, reaching the finals and terrifying their opponents. And, long story short, they won without major problems, returning with yet another gold medal and a huge trophy for the club.








Here is a list of all individual achievements:

Iulia: Gold - Female Kyu Grade Kata
Parwana: Bronze - Female Kyu Grade Kata
Philip: Silver - Male Kyu Grade Kata, Silver - Male Kyu Grade Kumite
Marcus: Gold - Male Dan Grade Kata, Silver - Male Dan Grade Kumite, Gold - Male Team Kumite
Michael: Gold - Male Team Kumite
Francisco: Gold - Male Team Kumite, Bronze - Male Dan Grade Kumite
Herve: Gold - Male Dan Grade Kumite, Gold - Male Team Kumite

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 2017

Winners of the Enoeda Cup 2017: Cambridge

Team results:

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

See the full report.