Strong results for Barry Kyokushin Karate club at Welsh Open

Up first were the kata (pattern) competitors. Angel Benavant was first to place for Barry Kyokushin, gaining first place and her first Welsh Championship title in the six to eight year old division, against 10 other competitors who had a lot more experience.

Next to compete was Dominika Mielkilzuk who was unfortunately just pipped off first place, but came home with a fantastic second place after just eight months of training at Barry Kyokushin.

In the 10 to 13 year old kata, Barry Kyokushin secured all three places. After an incredibly tough two rounds against much higher graded competitors, Justine Bolanos achieved a very well deserved third place, Leanne Lirio achieved second place after impressing the judges, and for the second year running Ben Bolanos achieved his second first place and retained his Welsh Champion title.

Next up was Luke Murphy, who at the start of this month achieved his second kyu (brown belt). Luke performed two excellent katas and was incredibly unfortunate to be just pipped of first place, but came home with a fantastic and well deserved second place.

Claire Norman was next in the Kyu grade adult kata and performed two fantastic katas. After only training with Barry Kyokushin for a little over a year, Claire got third place in her category after some very tough and experience kata competitors.

Finally, Rhian Evans, who achieved her second kyu along with Luke earlier this year, was up in the Black Belt category against several much higher graded, very well seasoned international competitors and after a very tough second round Rhian achieved her first place and Welsh Champion title, for the second year running. Rhian has won four major national titles in Kata in the three years she has been training.

Next to compete were the kids WUKO competitors. Sebastian Barzewski was first to place for Barry Kyokushin after several tough bouts of fights. Sebastian won his semi-final fight and sailed through to the final where he faced a great competitor. Sebastian came away with a fantastic second place trophy.

Next was Justine Bolanos in an incredibly tough WUKO category. Justine got through to the finals – a round robin against two other fantastic competitors and came away with an incredible second place after three very difficult fights.

Ben Bolanos was up next against WUKO competitors that were much taller and bigger than him, but stood his own, and achieved a fantastic third place to add to his first place in kata.

Paul Lambert was next to fight in male clicker against several younger and higher graded competitors. After a fantastic first three rounds where Paul came out victorious, he entered the final against an international competitor from Denmark. After an incredibly close fight, Paul achieved an incredible second place, losing his final fight by just one point.

Tyrone Conway was then to fight in the Novice Knockdown men’s lightweight, the only competitor from Barry Kyokushin to enter knockdown. After some very gruelling rounds and extensions, Tyrone achieved a fantastic third place in his first knockdown tournament.

Barry Kyokushin are incredibly proud of all their students who entered this tournament. Every single competitor was humble and an asset to the club.

Instructor Senpai Phill Sedgmond said, “It was yet another successful tournament, and it was fantastic to see so many different organisations coming together to enjoy the competition and also some international visitors and competitors from Denmark and Ireland, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all who helped out on the day to make this another success, I’m fortunate to have such a dedicated club willing to pitch in on every event we do“.

Senpai Phill and Barry Kyokushin Karate club committee decided to donate all the profits from this event to charity. Sebastian Sargent is a local lad and has Cerebral Palsy and Autism and he is unable to walk unaided or verbally communicate.

Sebastian loves the outdoors but his wheelchair can’t get him to the locations he wants to go, the beach, hillside walks etc. So they are raising funds to buy him an all-terrain wheelchair.

The tournament raised just over £400 and local company Spartan Martial Arts and sports suppliers LTD generously donated a percentage of their sales on the day to round the figure up to £500.

Anyone wanting to donate can go to https://www.gofundme.com/7f487mdk

Barry Kyokushin Karate club operate out of Castleland community centre, training nights are Mondays and Wednesdays 6.30pm to 7.30pm for juniors and 7.30pm to 9pm for seniors. You can call them on 01446 408974 or barrykarate@hotmail.co.ukwww.bkkc.co.uk or find them on facebook.