Commonwealth joy (From Barry And District News)

Commonwealth joy

HAVING only recently topped the medal table at the Welsh Junior Open Champ-ionships, Vale Karate has just tasted success on a bigger stage.

The 2005 Commonwealth Championships were held from August 12-14 at the Events Centre, Wellington, New Zealand.

The tournament was open to entries from all countries affiliated with the World Karate Federation that are also members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Vale Karate had two athletes selected by The Welsh Karate Governing Body for the trip to New Zealand - Bo Channon and Gareth Reynolds. When they're not busy coaching Vale Karate's Junior squad, Bo competes in Men's Kata, being Wales' only male international competitor, while Gareth fights in the Under 60Kg weight category in Kumite.

Both were also selected to fight for Wales in the men's team Kumite event.

After a 30-hour plus journey, the squad struggled to make up for lost sleep and the 12-hour time difference, and- due to financial restrictions - not arriving until the day before the men's team event.

The prestigious team event was the curtain-raiser to the championships, taking place on the Friday evening - luckily the Welsh team had a bye before coming up against the extremely tough Fijian team.

They successfully negotiated this bruising match before meeting the big guns of the home nation in the semi-final. After all five matches, the score was equal with two wins each and so an extra match was announced.

Swansea's British champion David Godfrey was Wales' choice. A dream berth in the final against England, however was not to be, as David lost and New Zealand progressed.

In the other semi-final, England had defeated Australia and so Wales then took on Australia in the bronze medal match.

The Vale's Gareth Reynolds was fighting at number five and fate decreed that the result of the match depended on his contest.

After going 3-0 down, the Welsh supporters were despondent, only to see Gareth pull out all the stops to come back, winning 6-3 to give Wales the Common-wealth bronze.

Wales then produced some excellent performances to have possibly the best International result in Welsh karate history.

Gareth's last competition outing was a win in the Under 70Kg category of the England Wado-Kai Open in June. On that occasion he sustained a cracked rib and so his preparation for 2005's most important event was thrown into turmoil.

However, his talent pulled him through and after a critical first round, when he sustained a broken nose, he went from strength to strength, eventually landing the biggest win of his career (so far), becoming Common-wealth champion.

Wales' results

Gold medals

Gareth Reynolds, Men's U-60Kg

David Godfrey, Men's U-70Kg

Samantha Jones, Ladies U-53Kg

Robbie Scott, Cadets U-55Kg

silver medals

David Lewis, Cadets U-55Kg

Josh Rees, Boys U-65Kg

bronze medals

Andrew Kelliher, Men's +80Kg

Rhys Jones, Men's U-65Kg

Men's Team

For further information on Vale Karate tel 01446 419701; email: vale@valekarate.com or visit www.valekarate.com