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TWO TITLES FOR BRISTOL KARATE ACADEMY IN EXETER
By Admin
26 November 2017 10:31 pm
Tim Griffiths weaves from a head kick on his way to picking up the South West title.
Tim Griffiths weaves from a head kick on his way to picking up the South West title.
PRESS RELEASE

Bristol Karate Academy competitors came away with two titles and four medals in total after a day of close matches at this year’s South West Shotokan Karate Championships in Exeter.

Both the Senior Kata and Senior Kumite titles went the way of the Academy’s head coach, Tim Griffiths.  In the first of his two finals his focussed performance of ‘Goju Shiho Dai’ – the kata that won him the KUGB South of England title earlier this year – was enough to see off challenges from Somerset’s Red Dragon Karate and Exeter University.

The final of the Kumite (sparring) was the first to four points, with Tim picking up two with punches and two with kicks against Dartmouth’s Kain Harper to take the gold.

Ian Connell, Dan Salter and Paul House picked up bronze in Team Kata in the first outing for this particular team of three, suggesting we could expect more to come in 2018, while Steph Williams completed the haul by medalling in Kyu Grade Kata – her first tournament medal.

The Academy, which trains in Nailsea, Backwell and Westbury-on-Trym, took 15 competitors to the championship in an effort to encourage participation across the Academy. Tim Griffiths explains, "While tournaments are not everyone’s cup of tea they’re an excellent barometer to test where you’re at with your Karate.  There’s nowhere to hide – the results speak for the themselves, so it’s a real complacency killer! If you need a bit of encouragement to train harder then this is it!

"But while we aren’t pushy about competing in tournaments we are passionate about progress.  And although some of our members didn’t pick up the medals they were hoping for this time they are absolutely focussed on getting better so that they can prove at both tournaments and grading examinations that their Karate is of a high standard. We’ll be there to help them every step of the way."