Vale Karate Junior Elite squad shine at Dudley (From Barry And District News)

Vale Karate Junior Elite squad shine at Dudley

THE VALE Karate Junior Elite squad found great success at the All-England Children's Championships held in Dudley on Sunday, November 23.

This event was hosted by Wayne Otto OBE, the world's most successful karate champion (verified by the Guinness Book of Records) and so was an event not to be missed.

After an action-packed day The Vale can boast of the following All-England Children's Champions:

Leah Copeland (Under 10 Senior Grades Kata).

Rhys Bryant (Under 10 Junior Grades Kata).

Nick Hooper (Under 12 Kata).

Natasha Paton (Under 12 Girls Kumite).

Rhys Davies (Under 12 Boys Kumite), and the Boys Under-12 team.

It has been another incredibly successful year, and a highlight was the Official Junior World Karate Championships for Under-21s when Billy Seagrim was narrowly beaten for a bronze medal.

Back on home soil the Welsh Karate Governing Body's Open Championships in November saw Vale Karate coach Bo Channon take his third successive Men's Welsh Kata title.

At the WKA Traditional Open on November 16 the Vale had a clean sweep in the Under-12 Kata as Natasha Paton was in the medals again, this time winning ahead of Rhys Davies in second place and Elliot Evans in third.

There were also first places for two debutantes as Mati Matiaki and Sophie Yorke won their categories in adult Kata and Junior Kumite respectively.

The Bushi-Kai Open are possibly Wales' biggest tournaments with the standard extremely high. Nick Hooper, at ten, already seven times a Welsh champion, won his umpteenth Bushi-Kai Under 16 Kata title, his nearest rival being his sister Alice who he beat in a close semi-final match.

The Under-10 Girls Kumite was well won by Leah Copeland, with Rhys Davies beating Scott Paramore in the final of the Under-12 Boys event.

They were joined by Elliot Evans to go on and win the Under-12 Boys team event.

The day was marred by the recurrence of a shoulder injury to Billy Seagrim in the semi-final of the U-21 Men's Kumite. This will keep him out of the Six Nations Championship taking place at next weekend's British Championships.