The LKA had a very successful day at the 43rd KUGB National Championships held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.  With a Squad of 30 competing, we took 11 different medal positions.  James Brown looked very confident in winning the Boys 5′ -5’5” Kumite event and is showing great promise.  There was also an all-LKA final in the Male Junior Kumite 18-20 Years event, where Ryan Tucker outpunched David Wright to add yet another title to his impressive collection.  A superb effort by both young men.

Undoubtedly the most exciting event of the whole day was the final of the Female Team Kumite event where we met old rivals Halewood once again. The match finished in an exact draw after the 3 fights, both teams had to send out an extra fighter for a deciding match.  Ashley Scott fought for Leeds and Vicky Mulhearn for Halewood.  After a very exciting fight, it finished 1-1 and so went to a referees decision.  Two judges went for Halewood, two for Leeds, so it was down to the Referee to decide.  After a tense wait he stepped forward and announced a draw.  So both fighters had to go again and after Vicky took an early lead, Ashley pressed her continually and took a point back to even the match.  As Ashley continued to attack looking for the win, Vicky scored a counter punch and took the title for Halewood.  A superb match though that got the crowd very animated!

Ashley had a superb day all round as she also finished second in the Female Kumite event, losing to England Team-mate Kelly Perry in another hard fought final.  She finished 4th in Female Kata and was part of the LKA Team that took Silver medal in the Adult Team Kata event with Unsu.  A very good effort to take a medal in all four events entered!

David Wright almost had as much success with his 3 medals in Junior Kumite, Male Kata and Team Kata.  Such all-rounders, capable of performing well in both Kata and Kumite events are both a credit to themselves and an excellent reflection on the club.

Finally both Mel Finlay and Emma Nunn performed very well in reaching the Semi-Finals of the Junior Female Kumite and both taking Bronze medals as did Jordon Probst in the Boys Kumite Over 5’5” event.

Our full list of results was:

The full list of our competitors is as follows:

Ashley Scott, David Wright, Zoe Starr, Nick Smith, Natasha Balyckyi, Jordon Probst, Ryan Tucker, Mel Finlay, Daryn Hobden, Brian Lister, Andrew Lister, Joe Hart, Tom Little, Stephen Brown, James Brown. Holly Dickinson, Emma Nunn, Mark Hardy, Josie Fishkin, Ronan Cain, Woody Nunn, Abi Chapman, Hayden Steele, Tom Mitchell, Callum Mackintosh, Andrew Cryer, Patrick Cryer, Michael Ambler, Michael Hardy and Adam Banks