Bristol Karate Academy

A small team and a truly inspired performance! We’re incredibly proud of every one of our 11 athletes who took the trip across the Severn Bridge to compete at this year’s WKGB Welsh Open in Cardiff on Sunday.

For most of the team it was their first outing at the Welsh Open, which itself was at its biggest for several years. Undeterred, they put in a record-breaking performance together.

This is the first time in our history that we’ve had ten champions crowned on a single day. The team stood out in the kata divisions in particular, with gold medals in both Pairs Kata events and then across all age divisions from under 12s upwards.

In Under 12s we had two placings, as Benjamin Griffiths won the event and Luke Mashford picking up a superb bronze. In Under 14s, Nephele Metsiou became back-to-back individual kata champion, having won the Welsh Open last year.

In the Female Cadet Kata classification, it was an all-Bristol final, with Lucie Tarr picking up her second title of the year and Olive Davies backing up the bronze she won in Worcester with a sterling silver performance.

Liam Mashford saw off the competition in the round robin Male Junior Kata event, while in the Veteran Kata event, Tim Griffiths added the Welsh Open title to his resumé.

In Male Senior Kata, Bristol took three out of four placings, with George Tarr adding the Welsh title to the English one earned earlier this year. He beat fellow JKS member Ryan Moore into silver, while Tim Griffiths and Liam Mashford swept up the two bronzes by winning their repechage finals. All a fantastic sign for domestic JKS karate in the run up to the JKS Continental Cup later this year.

After the lunch break, medals kept coming – this time in the kumite. The Mashford brothers picked up a trio of kumite medals between them, with bronzes for Josh and Luke in their categories and gold for Liam in the Male Junior Kumite division. Benjamin rounded off the day with a gold in Under 12s Kumite.

Well done to the whole team who conducted themselves brilliantly once again, supporting each other throughout the whole event.

Here are the full Bristol results from the WKGB Welsh Open:

GOLD for Liam Mashford and George Tarr in 16 years+ Pairs Kata
GOLD for Benjamin Griffiths and Luke Mashford in Under 16s Pairs Kata
GOLD for Liam Mashford in Male Junior Kumite
GOLD for Benjamin Griffiths in Male Under 12s Kumite (-40kg)
GOLD for George Tarr in Male Senior Kata
GOLD for Tim Griffiths in Male Veteran (35+) Kata
GOLD for Liam Mashford in Male Junior Kata
GOLD for Lucie Tarr in Female Cadet Kata
GOLD for Nephele Metsiou in Female under 14s Kata
GOLD for Benjamin Griffiths in Male under 12s Kata
SILVER for Olive Davies in Female Cadet Kata
BRONZE for Olive Davies and Nephele Metsiou in under 16s Pairs Kata
BRONZE for Josh Mashford in Male under 21 Kumite
BRONZE for Luke Mashford in the Male Under 12s Kumite (-40kg)
BRONZE for Tim Griffiths in Male Senior Kata
BRONZE for Liam Mashford in Male Senior Kata
BRONZE for Luke Mashford in Male under 12s Kata

The full squad: Evert Collard, Olive Davies, Benjamin Griffiths, Tim Griffiths, Josh Mashford, Liam Mashford, Luke Mashford, Nephele Metsiou, George Tarr, Lucie Tarr and Finn Westcott.

WHAT’S UP NEXT?

Next up we’re delighted to be hosts of the JKS England Development Series! Come and join us at Nailsea School on Sunday 7th September for a development level tournament suitable for all our members! Details will be sent out shortly.

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