IN THE early part of 2014 sensei Malcolm Jones (4th Dan, Goshin Karate) was invited to join the prestigious Kudo UK branch of the international organisation.

Sensei Malcolm had stopped his students competing in karate competitions, instead focusing his teachings on a holistic and pragmatic system that allowed students to replicate real life situations.

After further investigation into Kudo, sensei Malcolm quickly realised that Kudo was one of the only realistic formats of competition as it is a mixed martial art comprising full contact punches, kicks, throws, and submission techniques on the ground.

Sensei Malcolm is now the Kudo branch representative for Wales. In November 2014 presented the idea of fighting in the Kudo to his karate students and the first Welsh Kudo Team was born.

On Sunday, February 8 a group of six Kudo students led by their instructor sensei Malcolm, travelled to London to compete in this year’s UK National Junior Kudo Championships.

The students were extremely apprehensive as it was their first ever competition but were confident that they were prepared for what was ahead of them.

When arriving to the competition it became obvious to the Welsh fighters that there was expectation for them to win as there were seasoned international fighters in attendance.

The first fight of the day was an adult exhibition bout between Kudo Wales’s fighter, Terry Butler and the highest ranking fighter from Kudo Windsor.

The English fighter was renowned for knockdown head strikes leaving Terry having to adapt his strategy to avoid getting into a brawl.

Within 30 seconds of the bout Terry had thrown the English fighter to the ground three times with significant impact, finishing the fight with a powerful head shot.

The fight stunned the room, leading to a barrage of questions about the background of the Welsh team.

Next up was 17-year-old A-Jay Harry, one of the teams most dedicated students.

With the standard set by Terry, A-Jay was keen to impress landing a series of ferocious knees and body shots followed by some spectacular ground work leading to an unexpected second place.

The crowd was again left astounded as there were two international fighters within the category. From this moment on all eyes were on the new Welsh team who won the respect of all officials present.

Jayden Moller, Stefan Atkinson and Brenton Kells all battled their way through the rounds displaying excellent technique achieving respectable fourth places.

The highlight of the day was in the girls’ Junior Category where Natasha Croll won all of her bouts by TKO.

Natasha, a dedicated Goshin and Kudo student, used a combination of throws, punches and head kicks dominating her fights gaining not only respect but the UK National Title and an invitation to the World Championships in Japan.

Natasha among others will now have the opportunity to represent the UK along with 60 other countries across the world.

Sensei Malcolm stated that there is too much politics in martial arts and would like to make an open invitation to other fighters, no matter what style to attend the Welsh Kudo Squad training sessions which will be held every month.

Malcolm continued to state that he will continue to teach Goshin Karate in the Butrills Community Centre as his platform and encourages others to continue their practice but to use Kudo as the way to test their skills.

If you would like to join the Welsh Kudo Squad please email malcolmsensei@gmail.com or visit www.goshinkarate.org.uk.