LOCAL karate students have finished fifth in the ESKF Irish Open championships in Dublin.Young people from the Mizukara clubs in Holywood, Newtownards and Bangor claimed five gold, nine silver and 12 bronze medals at the prestigious event.
Gold medals went to Bella Cordner, Helena Stitt and Dylan McBride in kumite (sparring), Harrison Stitt in his kata (patterns) event and Levi Kane in her ladies kata event.Silver medals went to Harrison and Helena Stitt in pairs kata, Helena in kata and another in kumite.
Harrison added two in his individual kumite, and one more with colleagues Dylan and Caleb Orchin in their team kumite. Ben Ritchie then added another silver in his individual kumite, Kath Stevenson added another in her individual kumite and the silver medals tally was completed by Levi Kane, Kath Stevenson and Amy Adair in the team rotation kumite.
Coach David Brashaw was thrilled with the whole team.“It is hard to know where to begin praising our students’ performances,” he said. “They were all so good. It was fantastic to see two kumite categories where our students were sparring against their clubmate in the final. “Our competitors train as one big family throughout our clubs. This has helped greatly in healthy competition and a raising of standards.
The most pleasing results on the day for me were to see Bella Cordner take her first international event kumite gold, and Ben Ritchie taking a fantastic silver against world-class opposition in his Sanbon kumite. But more than this, it’s the way our students and their parents really get behind each other at competitions.” If anyone would like to know more about Karate, self-defence, relaxing and health recovery Tai Chi for adults locally, please contact David on 07760 337578 or message Mizukara on Facebook.
