Competitions

2 long days of competition have just been finished at the Tokyo budokan, which was a first class venue.
It is probably best to summarise both days as being dominated by the Japanese students from the various clubs and universities, some of which we had trained in earlier that week, as we recognised some of the fighters.
The tournament on Saturday was huge and you needed to get through about 5 rounds, before you could get into the final 8, which were the quarter finals. The English (and 1 Scotsmen) mainly went out in the 1st or 2nd rounds, although all the fighters showed great spirit and determination. I think it is fair to say that there were many a sore foot and tight hamstring from the weeks training sessions, which couldn't have helped them either!
A post tournament party was held after the events on the mat had finished, organised by Kazutaka Sensei and had the most wonderful spread of Sushi you could ever wish for..........if you like it! We'd been up at 6am, so getting back at 10pm meant we'd had a very long day and we all retired early, for another bright start in the morning.
The Sunday events were started by the finals of the previous All Japan Wado tournament, which produced some excellent fights and kata standards. England had one competitor, Craig Hill, in his Kata finals and he did very well in coming 7th.
The Wado Ryu world championships then kicked off, which was a smaller event than the previous day, as it was selected squads only. England got a 3rd place when Jamie Bowen fought exceptionally well to get a bronze medal in his kumite event. The England mens team were unlucky to go out 2-1 to the eventual winners of the mens kumite event and on another day, could have got the 2-1 win themselves.
The speed of the Japanese fighters will stay in the mind of all there for a long time. That's what they train for and it brings results and success.
Also the young English fighters and eveyone who got on the mats deserves credit, the fighters will be exceptionally good themselves over the coming years.
One team who caught everyones attention and seemed unsure of the rules drew many a gasp from the audience and let's just say we are glad some of their attacks didn't actually connect, but you'll have to see the videos to get the full picture if we have any of them!