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Post date: Mar 12, 2014 1:30:58 AM
Seven members of the KBK Squad took their first International trip in 2014, competing in the 10th Harasuto Cup in Poland. The squad and supporters were pleasantly surprised with the mild weather and were equally happy with the results for the weekend. The squad came back with 1 Gold and 4 Bronze medals, an impressive tally for such a tough international event with over 500 athletes from 15 countries participating from the tough Eastern block and Polish bordering countries.
After some “site seeing”, team bonding and light training in the hotel corridor, the team were set to go.
Day 1 saw, the Cadets, Juniors and Seniors in action with Nikkisha Bailey competing first on centre mats. Nikkisha made light work of her first 2 Polish opponents, winning 10-0 and then 2-0 to set up a semi-final clash with a third Polish opponent. A narrow loss of 0-2 meant Nikkisha had 1 fight for bronze Medal against Slovakia and a 1-0 victory was enough to take our first Bronze medal of the weekend.
Charlie Coulson narrowly lost 1-3 against his Slovakian opponent and didn’t get repacharge on this occasion, so no medals for Charlie but a great effort at this level.
Birthday boy Gavin Bailey looked in fine form, after celebrating his birthday with his club in Poland the day before. In the quarter finals, Gavin met an old Slovakian opponent from the 2009 Czech Open, winning 1-0 to reach the semi-final. Gavin then won 2-0 against Ukraine and finished with a 2-0 victory against the home team’s Polish athlete to take the Gold medal. A great victory for Gavin and his first Open International title in 18 months – “Happy Birthday Gavin!!!”
Gavin (Right) holding a perfect Birthday Present!
Finally Joe Kellaway won 8-0 and then 4-0 against his first 2 Polish opponents. In the semi-final Joe met his Slovakian opponent who defeated Joe 2-0 at the 2013 Austrian Open. Joe lost this bout 3-0 although a last second perfectly executed scorpion kick was disallowed, so a disappointing decision by the referee. Finally, Joe bounced back and demolished his final Bronze medal opponent from Poland winning 8-0 in under a minute to take our 3rd medal of the weekend.
Joe Kellaway (2nd from right), content with his Bronze medal.
Day 1 over, 1 Gold and 2 Bronze medals from 4 athletes – Impressive!!!
Dinner for the team followed by an early night to prepare for Day 2. The morning saw Nya Enver in action who was competing abroad for the very first time. A nervous Nya won her first round 4-1 and then an impressive 9-0 in under 30 secs. Her semi-final opponent was a much stronger and bigger opponent and Nya couldn’t overcome a 3-0 score line. Nya then battled through against her final Polish opponent winning 4-2 to take her first ever International medal and our first Bronze medal of the day.
For the 3rd successive time, Jack Ward’s category was the largest event of the competition Jack having to win 5 rounds for the title. Jack was unluckily handed a bye in round 1 then fought a tough heavy handed Polish opponent who beat Jack 1-0. Finally, Brandon Wilkins took the stage, looking for his first International Open medal. Brandon got through round 1 against Ukraine with 2-0 win but lost to Belarus in the quarter final by the same score line. Lucky for Brandon, the Belarus athlete made the final but Brandon had to win 2 more fights if he wanted his first Bronze medal. First bout against Latvia ended 1-1, but the decision was unanimous with 5 flags to 0. Finally, another Ukrainian and another 1-1 draw so down to flags again. This time, a narrow 3-2 decision awarding the victory to Brandon, who took home his first International Open Bronze medal.
Brandon was the only athlete who didn't compete against a Polish opponent!!
So, some fantastic results from Poland and a very happy club, until we had a 7 hour delay at the airport and arrived home at 6am the next day!!!
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