DURING February, Barry Kyokushin Karate Club hosted and attended the IKO Welsh Championships that were held in Barry Memorial Hall.

The tournament was attended by several clubs throughout Wales and clubs from England.

The tournament began with Kata (pattern) which the Barry Club dominated in.

Out of five Kata categories, Barry Kyokushin took first place in four of the categories. Devon Ruckley (10th Kyu) in his first ever tournament took first place closely followed by fellow club member Adam Tudor who took second, and Sebastian Barczewski who took home a third place. Ben Harris was unfortunately pipped to the post and secured a fourth place.

In the second category, Kelly Shi took home first place and Angel Benevant secured herself a third place.

In the third category, Leanne Lirio took home gold, and Justine Bolanos secured herself a very closely followed second place.

In the fourth category assistant instructor Rhian Evans took home first place, with club member Claire Norman taking home third place.

The next event was clicker, which was dominated by Barry Kyokushin once again.

In the first category Sebastian Barczewski and Andre Espiritu battled for first and second place over the final match, with three extensions. Sebastian just managed to secure himself first place in the final bout, with Andre Espiritu securing himself a well-deserved second place.

In the second category, two club members found themselves in the final to battle it out once again. Ben Bolanos secured himself the gold, with Brodie Taylor gaining a second place trophy.

In the final category, Kelly Shi was in the final, and battled to gain herself second place, with club member Bella Horsell gaining third place in the same category.

The next division was Cadet Knockdown. In the first division James Shi took home gold after fights with much bigger opponents.

In the second category, Barry Kyokushin had two members fighting for third place, Justine Bolanos and Leanne Lirio. After a very close fight Leanne Lirio secured herself the third place, and Justine a well-deserved runner-up after three tough fights.

The final category for the day was the knockdown. Club member Jordan Sidford was entered into the Men’s Lightweight and after a few tough fights Jordan found himself securing a well-deserved third place, after his final fight.

In the Men’s Middleweight club member Paul Lambert found himself in the final battling for first place. Paul took home a second place trophy after a difficult final fight.

Two club members, Gareth Dutton and Dryw Thompson, had been entered into the Men's Heavyweight and both found themselves battling for third place against one another. After a tough fight, Gareth Dutton took home third place, and Dryw was a well-battled runner-up.

In total Barry Kyokushin took home 20 medals. These included seven first place, six second place and seven third place.

Club instructor, Senpai Phill Sedgmond said: “The tournament was such a great success, not only for our club but for our Welsh Organisation.

"It’s very hard for youngsters in Wales to travel to compete. To have one on their doorstep opens up new opportunities for them.

"I’m obviously exceptionally proud of the achievements of my students at this event, they have all trained very hard for this tournament and their hard work has paid off by taking away 20 trophies from this, I think that might actually be a record for the 39 years our club has been going. Well done to all.”

In April, club instructor Phill Sedgmond is heading to Japan to partake in a 3rd Dan Black Belt grading test, taking part over two days, and club instructor Rhian Evans is also going to compete in kata in the World Championships.

Barry Kyokushin Karate Club train at Castleland community Centre on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6pm to 7.30pm for under-14s and 7.30pm to 9pm for the ages of 14 and over.

Email barrykarate@hotmail.com to get in touch, or visit their Facebook page.