University of Exeter Karate Club at BUCS

Karate BUCS Success

BUCS Karate Championships took place on the 12th-13th of March, 2022 at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. It was a very successful weekend for University of Exeter Karate team. Club captain, Emma Nemeti-Chipkes gives us the run down of the weekend:

Day one went very well, it was kata and team kumite. The day started with both Cameron and Emma medalling for Kata! Emma got silver in novice and Cam did very well and won the repechage for intermediate kata and brought home a bronze! Maddy also did incredibly well, beating some students with a much higher grade than her, should be very proud of her performance! Menâ's team kumite fought brilliantly and took home a silver medal! Some exhilarating moments include James scoring with a kick and clutching a win for the team to move forward another round, Ivan getting an 8-0 victory in 30 seconds of the first match, Alex playing with all his opponents and then going all out in the finals, all the boys fought incredibly well it wouldn't be possible to include everything or this would be way too long!

Day two was individual kumite. Emma fought and made it to the round right before the semi finals. Maddy also fought incredibly well and brought home a gold medal which is beyond impressive considering she started only this year! She was up against people who could be up to 4 grades higher than her. Cole preformed insanely well, he won the senior finals for his weight category! This is crazy no one can remember the last time there was a win in the senior finals! This is also only his first year, only time can tell how much he will continue to grow. Lastly he is now able to fight in the Europeans! Andrea, fought really well and had a win clutched but only lost due to a rule we didn't know, frustrating but we are all still so proud and she definitely gave everyone a run for their money! Becca even after having her toenail nearly come off (due to a door) still got on the mats to fight which must have been beyond painful. She did incredibly well. Alex also had some incredible fights. One fight you could see the fear in the opponents eyes as Alex casually chased him off the mats a couple times. Sadly due to an accident of a strong punch meeting the opponent who came rushing into it, he was disqualified. While it was unfortunate he still had an absolutely stellar performance and if you see his fights there was no question about his capabilities!

Overall the entire team did fantastic! I am beyond proud of each and everyone of them! Whether they medalled or not each one had a fantastic performance and everybody should be proud of what they did! A special thanks to the alumni who came to watch and support. Lastly a thank you to Jordan Thomas who came to coach for us. It was incredible to have Jordan there supporting and coaching us! Jordan Thomas being the first British World Champion in 12 years. His coaching was beyond helpful as he led the men's team to victory and helped coach each individual fight! 

Medals Breakdown:

Kata Emma Nemeti (Silver)

Kata Cameron Prince (Bronze)

Team Kumite: Ivan Georgiev, Alexandros Babalitis, Cole Rees-Williams, Cameron Prince, James Tuddenham (Silver)

Individual Kumite: Maddy Hart (Gold)

Individual Kumite: Cole Rees-Williams (Gold)

Exeter Sport would like to send UoE Karate a massive congratulations on a successful BUCS weekend, and we cannot wait to see what the next season brings for them.

Date: 18 March 2022