WAKO Junior European Championships – 23 to 30 August
7 of our students have just got back from representing Great Britain at the WAKO Junior European Championships in Spain. To have that many selected for the British squad shows how good these young fighters are, but on top of that we came away with 1 gold and 4 bronze medals. It was a great tournament for our squad that is getting stronger and better all the time.
Cory Cook – GOLD, -42kgs 13-15yrs
Following his silver medal in the World Championships last year, Cory was a seeded entrant in this tournament. He did not let any pressure get to him and fought with amazing skill and determination to come through and win gold. He had some incredibly tough fights as his division is stacked with talent. In the quarters, semis and final he had to fight all 3 of the other top ranked fighters in the world: Svetoslav Kovachki from Bulgaria, Botond Hegedüs from Hungary and Anatoly Nikiforov from Russia. Cory is a top talent and showed his class once again.
Liam Holden – 2 x BRONZE, -28kgs 10-12yrs and team competition
Liam had a great tournament coming away with 2 bronze medals: 1 in the individual competition and 1 in the team event. In the individual competition he got through to the quarter finals where he fought Daniel Fenaroli from Italy and won by 4 points. In the semi final he fought Mihail Georgiev from Bulgaria. Unfortunately, despite giving it his best shot, he lost the fight, but still came away with bronze, which is a brilliant achievement in his first international competition.
Rio Williams – BRONZE (team competition), -32kgs 10-12yrs
In the individual competition Rio had a very tough draw and had to fight the overall silver medalist (Dylan De Anna from Italy) in the first round. At the end of two rounds it was a draw and so they had an extra minute. It was a draw again and so it went to sudden death. Unfortunately Rio lost, but it could not have been a closer fight and he fought extremely well. Rio was part of the team that won bronze though, and after fighting very well again, came away with a medal.
Izzy Whitmore – BRONZE (team competition), -42kgs 10-12 yrs
In the individual competition Izzy got drawn against the number 1 seed Giorgia Russo from Italy. She was drawing after the first round, but just lost out at the end of the second round. The Italian then went on to win. It was a great performance from Izzy though. However, she was also part of the team that won bronze and so came away with a medal.
Ishana Moores, Team GB Fighter of the Day, -50kgs 16-18yrs
In the first round Ishana was against the top Italian fighter Beatrice Zucchelli and fought one of her best fights ever. At the end of the first round she was losing by 6 points. However, Ishana does not give up and in the second round she managed to bring it back to a draw. In extra time she then absolutely thrashed her opponent by 6 points winning 21-15. She was awarded Fighter of the Day from Team GB. In the quarter finals she was against top Belgian fighter Joyce Poppe. Unfortunately she lost, but it was a great performance from Ishana who is only going to get stronger in this division.
Carmen Jones, -42kgs 13-15 yrs
Carmen is unfortunately another one of our fighters who got matched against the number 1 seed (Iva Stoimenova from Russia) in the first round. Carmen was determined to win however and gave it everything she had. It was a strong and determined performance, but unfortunately she lost to a very good competitor.
Lauren Howie, -55kgs 16-18yrs
Lauren got drawn again the eventual winner and top fighter from Norway Tirill Nanett in round 1. She fought very well and gave it her best shot, but unfortunately lost against a top class opponent.
