ON Saturday, February 21, five members of Barry Kyokushin travelled to Scotland to compete in the IKKU (Independent Kyokushinkai Karate Union) 6th Scottish Open - a full contact karate competition.

Barry Kyokushin took three competitors and two referees to this prestigious event.

Sarah Walker was first to compete in Women's Novice Lightweight, stepping onto the mat in front of hundreds of competitors and spectators from several different countries.

Sarah was fortunate enough to have a place in the final, but came up against a much taller and higher graded competitor.

Sarah put on a difficult fight and drove forward with hard punches and kicks, but unfortunately missed out on first place, but took home a very well deserved second place, a great achievement.

Chris Mason was next to represent Barry Kyokushin in Men's Novice Lightweight.

Chris' first fight was very testing and lasted four minutes, but after several head kicks and knockout punches from Chris, he took the fight and sailed through to the final by referee decision.

Chris' final competitor was very strong and talented, but Chris put up a great fight and drove forward with a barrage of punches.

Unfortunately, Chris' competition piped the first place, but Barry Kyokushin is proud of Chris' second place in his first competition with the club.

Rob Miller was last up for the club, competing in Men's Novice Heavy Weight.

Rob stepped onto the mat full of determination, and the crowd and his competitor could see that - the fight lasted 30 seconds, after Rob pushed his other competitor with incredibly strong punches.

This fight secured Rob one of the fastest knockouts of the day.

His next fighter was very strong and Rob was unfortunate to lose his second fight after a barrage of kicks to the legs, but had another chance at fighting to secure a third place.

Rob's final competitor pulled out, safely securing Rob a third place, a great achievement for his first full contact competition.

Barry Kyokushin is incredibly proud of all of their fighters.

Club instructor Senpai Phill Sedgmond says “It’s been a very long time since we had fighters in Barry Kyokushin who have been interested in knockdown fighting. We have always trained towards it; it is the nature of the style. Over the years we have had great success in Kata, in Cadet semi contact and Clicker, bringing home champions every time but these guys trained very hard towards this event. We put on extra sessions for them so they could get some great one on one tuition with me, and we even brought our old club instructor back sensei Richard Males for a few sessions. Sensei Richard had a very long career as a knockdown fighter and his knowledgeable lessons were the icing on the cake for these budding fighters. They came away from the IKKU (Independent Kyokushinkai Karate Union) Scottish open with some very respectful places, two second’s and a third. I’m very proud of these fighters, as I am with all my fighters; they represented our club and our country and did so with great respect for their competitors. Onwards and upwards for our club now.”

Barry Kyokushin Karate club train out of Castleland community centre on Monday’s and Wednesday’s.

They have separate Junior and Senior classes and currently have money saving deals on to help new students start.

Classes are 6.30pm to 7.30pm for juniors and 7.30pm to 9pm for Seniors.

For further info you can visitwww.bkkc.co.uk or find them on facebook or call 01446 408974.