Ken-Bu-Kan Squad Members Take Part In The 2013 EKF Inter-Regional Team Trophy

Post date: Feb 08, 2013 4:18:33 AM

Gavin Bailey, Jay Kirton, Jerome Brown and Nikkisha Bailey were part of a formidable 15 athlete team from the South and battled against the Midlands and the North for the annual EKF Inter-Region Team Trophy.  Along with Sensei Andy, who is part of EKF Southern Region Coaching team the Squad who are all National Team Athletes travelled to Lincoln for the event.

Although the Team Trophy has remained in the South since its first competition over a decade ago, this Southern team was all new so they had a lot to live up to – No pressure!!!

First bout was against the Midlands and Gavin Bailey went out as fighter number 1 to compete against England’s best heavy light weights.  The bout was tense with both fighters getting warnings all for jogai and holding.  Debatably, Gavin got one final warning for stepping out the area and was disqualified although the score was level.

Next Jerome Brown took the mat and could only settle for a draw and 0-0. Nikkisha Bailey suffered the same fate and again had to settle for a draw.  Finally, Jay Kirton went against another of England’s heavy light weights but lost his bout 0-1.  It was an underperformance for all of KBK’s athletes who prepared for the bouts against the North.  Overall, the South lost the round by 36-29 and had to beat the North to win the trophy.

In the second round against the North, Sensei Andy led the coaching and had lots to do to recover from the Midlands lost.  Again, Gavin went first against the Northern team but lost by a narrow margin.  Next Nikkisha fought and secured a narrow 1-0 victory against another of England’s finest.  Jerome was third and won 3-0 with a superb and amazingly rare scorpion kick which excited the crowd and his entire team.

Finally Jay secured his win with a take down on his heavy weight opponent to rack up the points and overall victory against the North for the South.

After a long wait, the winners of the 2013 EKF Inter-Regional Trophy would be the Southern Region with a plus 13 difference, the Midlands took second, with plus 4, and North, paying for sluggish start, came third with minus 17.