MEMBERS of Vale Karate made up the largest Karate Wales squad to head to the sixth WUKF World Championships in Dublin's Citywest Convention Centre from June 15-19.

A squad of 49 athletes, six coaches and two referees attended, which included 13 members of Vale Karate as well as Rob Copeland who, as president of karate Wales, headed the delegation and on the occasion of his first international event, Vale and Wales referee, Doru Grad.

This was a huge event with around 2,400 karate athletes from over 70 federations worldwide.

Rhydian Pullin and Greg James in particular were in huge categories of more than 80 and 90 rivals respectively, no surprise then that although both boys did their best, which is an impressive standard, progressing was a mammoth task and wasn’t to be.

Ella Lyons was likewise in a large category and did extremely well, narrowly missing making the later rounds of her Kata category.

Griff Hughes was in a category of 60 plus, and narrowly missed the later stages, in 13th place. A great result, with plenty of potential and plenty to work on.

Chiara Baker's first Kata was extremely well received, and in another huge category was placed first until the last few competitors, nevertheless standing in second place after the first round, a great start.

Unfortunately her second Kata, Kanku Dai was less well received, and she also missed the final.

Kian and Jack George were, as usual, full of enthusiasm, and both have skill in abundance, but were unable to break through to the latter stages.

Jack also represented Wales in team Kumite and although hopes were high for his talented team, success was not to be.

Dad Mike was entered in a tough Veteran Kata category and although he did really well, again a podium spot was not to be.

Alysha Lee and Ella Forsyth were in the same huge Kumite category of four pools and they had a tough time as they waited on their mat for hours to fight.

When they did, they both came up against strong opposition and their fights could have gone either way. Like others, their first World Championships was a real learning experience.

Leah Copeland was Vale Karate’s first success story.

She progressed to the second round of the Ladies Open Kata and there earned her highest scores yet at international level, earning the elusive 7.5 from the head judge and two 7.4s plus two 7.3s. The standard of the best in the category just kept Leah from the final but she was very happy with the progress made.

In Kumite, Leah was again at her best in both the individual and team Kumite. In the individuals she was on fire and beaten only by the Romanian World Champion to earn her first WUKF Senior World medal, a bronze.

She then helped the Welsh team (which included Rahinie Karunanithy from Ken Bu Kan and Amy Davis from Wattstown) to another bronze medal.

Bradley James and Lucas Widdringtion both competed in the Adaptive Kata category, the first time WUKF has staged this event. Bradley earned a silver medal with Lucas taking the bronze medal. The was one of the best events of the whole championships with tumultuous applause from the packed audience for all concerned.

Chiara Baker went all the way to the pool final (top eight) of her individual Kumite category, a fine achievement, but saved her best until last, as alongside Sumaya and Aaliyah from Cardiff and Sasha from Wattstown and among 15 other teams from all corners of the globe, Wales took the gold medal in the 11-12 Girls kumite event.

Karate Wales as a squad did extremely well in the toughest event they've yet attended. Four gold medals for Kay Powell, Josh Davies, Tyler Foster and the girls team, silvers for Jacob Denham, Lauren Gallagher, Sam Cana and Leon Jones and bronzes for Lucas Widdrington, Josh Dodwell, Leah Copeland, Rahinie Karunanithy and the ladies Kumite team.

Doru Grad impressed as he was awarded Continental Judge at his first event.

An overview would be that it was very big, the days were very long and the standard was very high. A hugely worthwhile event that will have a big influence on our squad’s continuing development.