Luton Higash Karate Kai

The Luton Lunatics travelled to Reading to take part in this, the 4th Annual HKK Championships. We were to take part in individual kumite (free sparring), team kumite and individual kata. This annual Higashi competition had the largest number of entrants in years with over 420 competing.

The team performed admirably and secured more trophies than we had dared to hope for. Medal winners were as follows:

Kata

Samantha Wright - Sam achieved 2nd place in the senior mixed 4th-1st kyu kata after a playoff for 1st place

Ayushi Sharma - Luton's very own WKC world champion came 2nd in the girls' 4th-1st kyu kata

Nadia Majeed - Nadia excelled herself by coming 2nd in the boys'/girls' 7th-8th kyu kata. This was also done after a playoff for 1st place

Kumite

Jeffrey Archer - after coming 3rd last year in the green belt and below category, Jeff kept his sparring reputation going by again scoring third place, but this time in the significantly tougher purple/brown belt category

Michelle Mudhar - not to be outdone in the sparring by the boys, Michelle fought her way to 3rd place in the girls' 7th-4th kyu kumite

Tim Kirk - Tim came in 3rd in the over 35 kumite. This category was open to all grades and Tim, as a yellow belt, did Luton proud by beating seasoned black belts to get this placing!

Trophy winners - Tim, Nadia, Jeff, Michelle, Sam and Ayushi

All in all, this was a fantastic day out for the Luton Lunatics and a 300% improvement on last year's medal quota. The Luton team scored well in both the junior and senior ladies' categories and showed equal mastery of both the kata and kumite aspects of karate.

Well done to the team and especially well done to the medal winners!