Kerry Shotokan Karate School organised its first open tournament on the 10th and 11th september 2011 The tournament was held in Killorglin Sport’s Complex. The event was a major success for all involved with in excess of 120 competitors participating from clubs in Ireland and the UK.

Some of the clubs represented included Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association (FSKA) clubs from Glengariff, Cork and Killorglin, as well as various clubs other organisation including The Shotokan Karate International Federation (SKIF) the Karate Union of Ireland, BASK England, and the KKU Cork.

Kata Saturday 10th September

The Kata competitor took place on Saturday 10th, in the boys Categories, 7 & under, Aidan Devine took gold while Ethan Coffey took Silver in under 8 green to purple category. In the boys 11 to 14, green-purple category, Shane Corkery finished first and David Moriarty finished second. while in the white to green belt category 11 to 14, Diarmaid O’Hara took the silver medal for his first competition.

In the girls competition, Cadhla Piggott and Tiarna Sheahan won gold and silver respectively in the 8 to 10 years old white-purple category and Claire Dourieu won gold in the 11 to 14 year old green to purple section.

The afternoon saw the Adults Kata competitions. Kerry shotokan won an additional 9 medals. The adult Kata competitions was particularly disputed. In the ladies competition, the senior black belt was won by Tracey O’Leary of FSKA Cork ahead of Siobhan Leahy of Bantry & Glengarriff Karate Club and Shaunagh Downing, FSKA Kenmare.

The ladies Veteran competition was won by Jackie O’Shea of SKIF ahead of Sue Cooper and Linda Grace of Bantry and Glengariff Karate Club.

The Special division which was open to all competitors irrespective of age and grade was won by Tracey O’Leary (FSKA Cork) ahead of Jacqui O’Shea (SKIF Ireland) and Ann O’Donoghue (FSKA Cork)

The male senior Kata competition had a large number of participants in the Black belt section and the title went to Vincent Clarke (KUI) who won ahead of Charlie Bigger (Bandon Shotokan Karate) and Aaron Kenneally (SKIF Ireland).

The Veteran Category was won by Eddie O’Donnell  (SKIF Ireland). Sellathunai Ganeshalingan, (BASK England) finished second with Terry McSweeney and Marc Dourieu (Kerry Shotokan Karate School) joint third.

The special category saw a similar result to the Senior competition with Vincent Clarke (KUI) taking gold. Charlie Bigger (Bandon Shotokan Karate) and Moise Gema  (KSKS) finishing second and third.

Kumite Sunday 11th September

After an evening in Killorglin and a good night sleep everybody gathered again on Sunday morning for the Kumite competition. The morning saw the hotly contested junior competitions with Kerry Shotokan winning 1 gold, 4 silver and one bronze medal with some fine displays.  There were some fantastic rounds with KUI Dublin and Cork Kempo also winning a large number of medals.

The afternoon saw the widely anticipated Senior competition with a large field of contestants. The competition started with the White to Purple belt kumite where Kerry Shotokan was well represented. The men’s white to purple competition was a very intense and hotly disputed contest. Chris Devine won silver and Pawel Walanus won bronze and a few bruises in the process.

In the veteran competition, Martin Donnelly (SKIF Ireland) took gold, Kevin Sullivan (SKIF Ireland) silver and Marc Dourieu (Kerry Shotokan) won bronze.

The popular Black Belt Senior competition saw a number of very exciting contests and Kevin Lynch (Bandon Shotokan Karate) edged out Vincent Clarke (KUI) to take the gold medal. Charlie Bigger also of Bandon Shotokan Karate won bronze.

In the men special division, Conor Nugent (SKIF Ireland) finished first ahead of  Stuart Hickey  (Bandon Shotokan Karate) and Charlie Bigger  (Bandon Shotokan Karate).

After a raffle and the medals were given, a prize for best competitor overall was awarded to Jaquie O’Shea of SKIF Ireland and a prize for best referee was presented to Ray Payne of SKIF.

Organiser Sensei Charles Neri was delighted with the way the two days went and was encouraged by the number of positive comments from competitors and visitors to the tournament.

Kerry Shotokan Karate School would like to thank all the clubs who supported the tournament as well as the many volunteers and sponsors who came on board to help us organise the two day event. These included Killorglin Sports & Leisure Centre, FEXCO, Champs Eurospar, Eamon Costello, Mega Bytes Killorglin, AIB Bank Killorglin, Brendan Tyther Bookmakers, Aqua Design Killorglin, Astellas, Hannah Mary’s Country Store, Boyles Hardware, O’Carroll Engineering and Mc Carthy Insurance Group

We are looking forward to an even better and bigger event next year and hope to see you there.

Kerry Shotokan Karate School
Killorglin
Co. Kerry
Ireland

e: info@kerryshotokan.com
w: www.kerryshotokan.com