Ken-Bu-Kan top the medal table at the 23rd WIKF British Championships!!!

Nineteen members of the Ken-Bu-Kan squad travelled to Leicester to compete at the 23rd WIKF British National Championships.  This year Head Coach and Chief Instructor Sensei Andy Michaelides was back in the coaching chair along with assistant squad coaches Aneesha Pancha, Joe Kellaway and Nikkisha Bailey, all of whom were also in action throughout the day.  This year also introduced many of KBK’s newest athletes who were competing in their first ever competition, some as young as 5 years old so it was exciting day watching the “old wilds cat” looking after the “younger little cubs” of the club.

Proud Coach Sensei Andy (Centre above) with the Ken-Bu-Kan Karate team

First up were the Kata events with new members Layla Sayah, Harley Hurd and Ashliegh Miah-Dodkin along with Nya Enver and Romahn Flemmings.  Both Nya and Harley made the finals, finishing in 5th and 4th position, Romahn and Layla both picked up Bronze medals and finally Ashleigh was our top performing athlete for Kata, just missing out on top spot to take the Silver medal.  One Silver and two Bronze medals in Kata…Bring on Kumite now!!!

With a much smaller squad than some of the other WIKF clubs and with younger and inexperienced athletes in the team, it was going to be a hard challenge all day to top the medal table for a record 9th time but the squad were pumped.  First up were the teams and in the Peewee section, Nya Enver led the “A” team with Harley Hurd, Layla Sayah and younger sister Souhila whilst Logan Wilkins took the “B” team with Freddie Coulson, and Sensei Andy’s two sons Christian Michaelides and younger brother Stefano, aged just 5 years old and the youngest competitor of the day.  Both teams fought well, but lost to their older, bigger and more experienced opponents, but all the members came away with a Bronze medal for the brave efforts.  Next Jack Ward took his team of Ashleigh Miah-Dodkin and Harley Hurd in the mixed 10-11 years.  The team had a point to prove after seeing their Peewees beaten earlier and won all 3 rounds impressively to take the Gold medal and our first of the Championships.  Then Brandon Wilkins led his team of Romahn Flemmings and Jack Ward and once again won all their rounds to take our second Gold medal.

Onto the Cadet sections, with defending Champions Nikkisha Bailey, Danielle Kirby and with their new member Ashleigh Miah-Dodkin.  The girls were in awesome form defending their title to take the Gold medal.  The boys on the other hand, led by Charlie Coulson with Brandon Wilkins and Romahn Flemmings weren’t as lucky, losing in the final stage to take Silver.  In the male Junior team led by Joe Kellaway and with Charlie and Romahn, the boys all fought well but only managed to take Bronze medal on this occasion.  Finally, in the mixed team event against Suhari, it was one-way traffic as our KBK athletes Joe Kellaway,  Aneesha Pancha, Michelle Little, Charlie Coulson and Nikkisha Bailey absolutely destroyed their opposition in each bout to take the title and the clubs forth Gold medal.

In the individuals, the KBK squad continued to dominate the Championships with athletes medalling in their own events and also in events where they have stepped up.  In the Peewee events, new members and sisters Souhila and Layla Sayah, brothers Christian and Stefano Michaelides, Charlie Coulson’s younger brother Freddie Coulson and finally Harley Hurd all came away with Bronze medals in their first ever competitions.   Well done all!!!  Logan Wilkins and Nya Enver however went all the way to take Gold and their first career WIKF British titles.  Nya also took Bronze medal in her second Peewee event and amazingly, at just 8 years old, also took Gold medal in the female 10-11 lightweight Kumite event.  Amazing achievement!

Jack Ward was in awesome form winning his section with ease and also the section above to take his 4th Gold medal of the day.  New member Ashleigh Miah Dodkin next took the mats and impressively took two Bronze medals in her first ever competition.  There was no stopping defending Champion Brandon Wilkins as he took Gold for the 4th successive year.  At 13 years old, Brandon also took Bronze in the cadet light-weight section.  It was an all KBK final in the 12-13 year heavy weight section as Romahn Flemmings beat Brandon in the final, whilst Romahn also took Bronze in his cadet section.  Eleven Golds already, but how many more?...

In the female cadet division, it saw another KBK final as Nikkisha Bailey and Danielle Kirby battled again in yet another final, with Nikkisha winning by the smallest of margins.  In the female junior division it was again Nikkisha beating Danielle in the final.  Not only are these girls dominating the WIKF circuit but also the EKFs!  It was another double Gold medal in the male cadet division as Charlie Coulson crushed his opponents to claim his two WIKF British titles.

Joe Kellaway’s first event of the Championships was the junior event where he fought against some tough opposition but came through easily to take his first Gold medal.  In the female senior event, defending and six times WIKF National Champion Aneesha Pancha was up against her good friend Michelle Little, also a three times former WIKF National Champion.  Both girls demolished the field in their round robin event to contest in the final, where Michelle took the gold and Aneesha settled for Silver this year.  Finally, in the male senior event, Joe Kellaway was competing in the final against an opponent weigh some 30 kilos more than him.  This didn’t change Joe’s mood or confidence as he beat his opponent 8-0 to claim his second Gold of the day.

Overall, the squad came home winning an astonishing 18 National Gold medals, 6 Silvers and 16 Bronzes taking top spot in the overall medal table for the 9th time.