KUGB Shotokan Cup, 5th September 2009
The LKA had probably our best ever showing at the 34th Shotokan Cup in Chesterfield. We took four Gold medals, six Silver and three Bronze.
Leading the way this time round was Zoe Starr who narrowly missed out on being the Grand Champion in the Junior Female categories where she won the Kata and came second in Kumite. This was the third event on the trot that Zoe has placed second in Junior Female Kumite, an excellent showing of consistency. Maybe she can go one better at the Northern Regions next month in Leeds.
In both Junior Male Kata and Kumite we took both Gold and Silver medal positions. David Wright's Unsu beat Nick Smith's Gankaku into second place. Tom Little fought and beat Mark Hardy in the Kumite final, the winning point coming from a thunderous Chudan Mawashi Geri. A very deserving victory for Tom who trains very hard and has been on the wrong end of some frustrating refereeing decisions on a number of occasions.
Jordon Probst showed good courage in winning the Boys Kumite Over 5'5'' event. After taking quite a heavy blow to the mouth in which his braces cut into his gums, he came back and outpointed his opponent. Jordon will be moving up to the Cadet category soon and we hope he strives for further success there too.
Joe Hart, back from his 6 week expedition to Kenya, fought very well to reach the Semi Finals of the Senior Male Kumite, where he lost to England International, Michael Davison. We also had good performances from Stephen Brown, Holly Dickinson, Ronan Cain, Tom Mitchell and Hayden Steele who all took medal positions. An excellent all round showing.
The full list of medal winners was:
| Junior Male Kata | 1st | David Wright |
| Junior Male Kumite | 1st | Tom Little |
| Junior Female Kata | 1st | Zoe Starr |
| Boys Kumite Over 5'5'' | 1st | Jordon Probst |
| Junior Male Kata | 2nd | Nick Smith |
| Junior Male Kumite | 2nd | Mark Hardy |
| Junior Female Kumite | 2nd | Zoe Starr |
| Boys Kumite 5'-5'5'' | 2nd | Hayden Steele |
| Boys Kumite Under 5' | 2nd | Tom Mitchell |
| Boys Kumite 10 & 11 Yrs | 2nd | Ronan Cain |
| Senior Male Kumite | 3rd | Joe Hart |
| Junior Male Kumite 16 & 17 Yrs | 3rd | Stephen Brown |
| Girls Kumite Under 5'3'' | 3rd | Holly Dickinson |
The full list of 28 competitors was:
David Wright, Zoe Starr, Nick Smith, Natasha Balyckyi, Jordon Probst, Mel Finlay, Daryn Hobden, Brian Lister, Andrew Lister, Joe Hart, Stephen Brown, James Brown, Tom Little, James Hill, Holly Dickinson, Emma Nunn, Mark Hardy, Josie Fishkin, Oliver Deane, Dan Martin, Ronan Cain, Woody Nunn, Abi Chapman, Hayden Steele, Alistair Anderson, Tom Mitchell, Jed Dickinson & Pat Cryer.