Legend Open 2010 (United Kingdom)
If we look at the traditional karate calendar for 2011, there are very few good quality events for us to attend. The Legend Open is an event that deserves our support. It is well organised, attracts a high standard of competitor and stands up for what it believes in, traditional karate at a high standard. It does what it says on the tin, and allows opportunity to showcase some of the best talent around, both for youngsters and for those with more experience.
The Legend Open has been running for ten years now, and has seen some of the biggest names in Shotokan Karate grace their tatami, and has been host to some incredible bouts, and performances of kata. This year’s event was no exception.
We began with kata for the younger generation, and we saw SKC’s Rhiannon Hackman narrowly losing out to Scotland’s Laura Divers and Christopher Chan, who took 1st and 2nd respectively in 12 – 15 Brown and Black Belt Kata. All four finalists performed excellent kata, and the space between first and second place was especially close.
As it always is, Men’s Senior Kata was an excellent show, with clean, crisp, effective technique being displayed, but it has to be said, Shaun Eglington’s Unsu for the finals was superb. Sharp and dynamic, he thoroughly deserved the gold medal he was awarded.
Moving on to another excellent category, the Ladies Black Belt Kata category was even busier than the previous year. It saw Scotland’s Brogan McAnena taking a well deserved 1st place in Ladies kata with her crisp performance of Gojushiho Sho, followed by my very own self, taking silver after performing….The standard was high across the board for this category and all finalists were well deserving of their wares.
Members of SSKI, talented youngsters Leah Groom, Lauren Brooks and Emily Nutbeam lost out to Scotland’s Laura Divers in the 12 – 15 Brown and Black Belt Kumite. This turned out to be a very exciting category to watch, with all entrants, not only the final four, fighting professionally and showing not only and excellent level of skill, but excellent attitudes also. It is always fantastic to see youngsters representing themselves and their clubs so positively.
One thing that absolutely must be noted is the incredible performance of the Scotland team. They placed in almost every available category, and took every medal in Ladies Senior Kumite. That’s right, they took first, second, and both joint third positions. Whilst the entire team displayed skills to be very jealous of, they were also excellent representatives for their team, polite and respectful of all other karateka, they win and lose with excellent attitudes. (Not that they lost very much mind you…)
As usual Team events were a tense affair, with many close to the mark bouts, but showing excellent form, the SEKU teams took gold in both the Association and the Club team events, furthering their reputation as the team to beat in any team event.
This year sees the end of the Shobu Ippon Championships, and so it is especially important for us karateka across the UK and indeed internationally to support good quality events such as the Legend Open, because before we know it, if we don’t support them, they will get smaller and smaller and then disappear, and we will all be ranting and getting on our soap boxes as we fasten our blue mitts, wondering why traditional competition is not so popular anymore.
Before that has opportunity to happen, take the time to support the Legend Open, and keep traditional competition very much in the frame, so that we who wish to continue to compete and to watch others compete get ample opportunity to.
The 11th Legend Shotokan Open Championships will be held in Bracknell on Saturday 12th March 2011. For more information then please contact Sensei Gerry Breeze at gerry@kanku.org
Entry forms will also be available to download from the TSW Calendar page very shortly.
Emma Robins
10th LEGEND OPEN SHOTOKAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010 RESULTS
ALL KATA RESULTS
8TH TO 4TH KYU Under 11yrs
1st K. Ozeki
2nd Sharnia Moniz
3rd. Sapphire Sumpter
Archie Gabriel
Brown & Black Belts Under 11yrs
1st. Rian Smeaton
2nd. E, Blindell
3rd. A. Strath
O. Bousba
Brown & Black Belts 12 to 15yrs
1st. Christopher Chan
2nd. Laura Diver
3rd. Riannon Hackman
Victoria Stevenson
Junior Brown & Black Belt Mixed Team Kata 15yrs Below
TaKaKai
SSKI
Tokan SKC
Sanshin
Brown & Black Belt Cadets 16yrs to 21yrs
1st. Mohammed Salin
2nd. Dylan Hitchcock
3rd. Sam Weaver
GeorgeOliver
8th to 4th Kyu Female Senior Kata
1st. Alison Flowers
2nd. Sharon Boardman
3rd. Gael Pawson
Jo Baker
Brown & Black Senior Ladies
1st. Brogan McAnena
2nd. Emma Robins
3rd. Emma Williams
Nikki McBride
8th to 4th Kyu Senior Kata
1st. Paul Nya
2nd. Oliver Wilkins
3rd. Derek Manning
Steven Lafferty
Brown & Black Belt Seniors
1st. Shaun Eglington
2nd. Ross Young
3rd Matt Powell
Daniel White
Senior Male Team Kata
1st. Kilburn.
2nd. Sanshin
3rd. Kenshinkai
Female Team Kata. 16yrs Above
TaKaKai.
Porchester
ALL KUMITE RESULTS
8th to 4th kyu Sanbon Mixed 11yrs & under
1st. Shania Semedomoni
2nd. Niaaz Hoque
3rd. Ethan Cutts
Yassine Adjadj
Brown & Black Belt Sanbon Mixed 11yrs & under
1st. Jake Stone
2nd. Jessica Dodds
3rd. Chloe Jones
Steven Barton
Brown & Black Belt 12 to 13yrs Under 5ft
1st. Luke Shredish
2nd. Thomas Carson
3rd. Brian Kas
Brown & Black Belt 12 to 13yrs Boys Over 152cms
1st. Cameron West
2nd. Khalid Hourdz
3rd. Ben Tyler
Danny Richards
Brown & Black Belt 14 to 15yrs Boys Over 152cms
1st. David Ross
2nd. Joe Crowe
3rd. Jeremy Cantoss
John Ferrando
Girls Kumite Brown and Black Belt 12 to 15yrs
1st. Laura Divers
2nd. Leah Groom
3rd. Lauren Brooks
Emily Nutbean
8th to 4th kyu Male Senior Over 21yrs
1st. Oliver Wilkins
2nd. Derek Manning
3rd. Andrew Fleet
Ben Leaver
Brown & Black Belt Senior Female
1st. Brogan McAnena
2nd Nikki McBride
3rd. Julie McGavigan
Christine O’Neill
8th to 4th Kyu Cadet Male Kumite 16 to 20 yrs
1st. Owen Laracoats
2nd. Paul Walsh
Brown & Black Belt Cadets 16yrs to 20yrs
1st. Stuart Amos
2nd. Doug Carson
3rd. George Oliver
Momhamed Silam
Brown & Black Belt Male Senior 21yrs & over
1st. Matt Powel
2nd. Annis Jarboua
3rd. Steve Axelson
Paul Henry
Association Senior Male Teams. (5 Man )
1st. SEKU. A.
2nd. Kilburn
3rd. Wales
Scotland
Club Male Team Kumite. ( 3 Man )
1st. SEKU. C.
2nd. Wales.
3rd. SEKU . B.
Bournemouth
Adult Mixed Team Kumite ( Two Man / One Woman. )
1st. Kilburn
2nd. TaKaKai
3rd. SEKU. B
