GKR Round 2 June 6 2010

The second GKR Tournament for 2010 had around 100 competitors, with some divisions well supported and others small. However, the quality of Karate display was very good. The venue was set up with 4 rings with plenty of area around each ring for competitors. Following the traditional bow in and welcome, competition began in each of the rings with the junior grades.

In the 7 & under 8-7th kyu combined section, the Kata winner was Vikram Gopakumar, from Matthew Thomson, with Tara Jeromel third. In Kumite, Cameron Jones won the final from Shakaya Hembury, with Tushr Muralidharan taking the bout for third place. In the 8 - 9 year 8-7th kyu combined section, Kata was won by Sienna Kulinski, Cameron Keen was second, with Darcy Munchenberg third. The Kumite event was close with Darcy winning the final from Sienna. In the 6-4th kyu section, Jordan Haffner won Kata, Eben Vanrensburg was second, and Christina Akele was third. Jordan won Kumite final from Eben, with Christina third. The Kata winner for the 10 - 11 year 8-7th kyu combined event was Jessica Lombardi, second was Brittany Munchenberg, with Rani Kulinski in third place.  Kumite was close with some good bouts. Brittany Munchenberg and Krystina Diaons fought out the final with Krystina taking out the event. Jessica Lombardi took out the third place bout. The 10-13 years 6-4th Kyu Combined division had some of the top Juniors competing and the standard was high. In Kata, Jalen Croxton was first, Stephanie Antolis second and Demi Harford third. The Kumite was fiercely competed, with Stephanie and Jalen making the final. In a tight bout, it was Jalen who took out an excellent final. Demi was the third place winner. The Kata winner in the 10-13 years 3 Kyu & above Combined division was Angel Marsden, Jasmine Harford placed second, and Lucille Lott third. Lucille took out the Kumite final over Jamie Lonie, with Jasmine Harford in third place. In the 14-15 years 8-7th Kyu Male Kata, Callum Boyd won the event from Rhys Dix. In Kumite, Rhys won the final over Jordan Hembury, with Callum third. The 14-15 years 6-4th Kyu Male Kata was won by Daniel Andrew from Daniel Field, and Aaron Baldwin placed third. In Kumite, Daniel Andrew prevailed over Aaron in the final, with Daniel Field third. Female 14-15 years 6-4th Kyu saw Margie Hookway take out both Kata and Kumite over an improving Ashley Langkilde.

There was a disappointing entry in the 18-34 age group divisions, but perhaps a reflection on the number of people in this age group training, especially in the lower divisions. The two competitors in the 16-20 yrs 8-6th Kyu Female event shared the results. In Kata, Rhiannon Ralph narrowly won from Kirsty Webb, but in Kumite, Kirsty took out a hard fought final from Rhiannon. The 18-34 yrs Incl. 8-7th Kyu Male division shared the results also, with Justin Baldwin winning Kata from Wesley Clark, while Wesley won the Kumite from Justin. The 18-34 yrs Incl. 3rd Kyu & above Male event saw Nik McDonald win both Kata and Kumite. Mark Ingle took out second in Kata and third in Kumite, with Andre Langos third in Kata and second in Kumite. The 18-34 yrs Incl. 3rd Kyu & above Female event had a very strong field as usual and the standard was high. In Kata, Teagan Miller won from Tamsin Ing, with Zoe Tyler third. Kumite saw some excellent bouts, with top quality sparring throughout. Zoe Tyler took out the Gold Medal from Jackie Probert, with Tabatha Dodd taking out the third place bout over Tamsin Ing.

The Veteran competition saw some quite high quality competition. In Veteran (35-44 yrs) 8-7th Kyu Male Kata, Chris Munchenberg was first, with Chris Taylor second. Kumite action saw Chris Munchenberg take out the final from Chris Taylor, with Mark Spratt third. The Veteran (35-44 yrs) 8-7th Kyu Female Kata was won by Julie Munchenberg, Julie Boyd was second and Sharon Fear took out third. Kumite saw Julie Munchenberg take out the final from Julie Boyd. Veteran (35-44 yrs) 6-4th Kyu Male Kata was won by Paul Jeromel, from Anton Van Rensburg, with Craig Johnston in third place. Kumite was tight, with Craig taking out the final from Paul Jeromel. Anton took out the third place bout. In the Veteran (35-44 yrs) 6th-4th Female Kata event, Linda Donnellan took first place, from Angela Carapetis, with Cathy Croci in third place. Kumite was keenly contested with Cathy winning the final from Linda, with Angela third. Veteran (35-44 yrs) 3rd Kyu & above Male Kata was won by Sean Hutton from Steve Howard, with Kevin Boyd in third place. The Kumite medals went the same way, with Sean, Steve and Kevin all competing strongly to finish in that order. Senior Veteran (45 yrs plus) 7-4th Kyu Male Kata saw Frederick Hamden take out the event from Albert Tuddenham, with Brenton Wells in third place. In Kumite, Brenton won the final from Albert. The Senior Veteran (45 yrs plus) 3rd Kyu & above Female is usually well supported but with work, holiday and sickness effecting the entry, it was up to Barb Hesselschwerdt and Chris McDonald to carry the flag. Barb took out Kata from Chris, with the results reversed in Kumite, with Chris taking the Gold. Senior Veteran (45 yrs plus) 3rd Kyu & above Male Kata was won by John McDonald, with Steve Burford in second, and Gary Coppola taking third place. In Kumite, Steve took out the final from Gary.

After the lunch break, it was time for the Demonstrations and it was Sensei Joe Van Strijp and Sensei Daniel Tregenza performing Kata Empi, Sensei Daniel open handed and Sensei Joe with sticks. First they performed separately and then alternatively "to the count". Most interesting, which Kata and which weapons will they use next?

No Senior Syncronised Kata this time due to team members being unavailable, but four teams entered the Junior event. All teams did very well, with first place going to Demi Harford, Jasmine Harford and Lucille Lott, the young team of Sienna Kulinski, Rani Kulinski and Krystina Dianos were second, with the Dernancourt Junior Team of Vikram Gopakumar, Tushr Muralidharan and Abourashed Tojeboa taking out third place.

The Black Belt Open events were scheduled in the one ring, with Kata first. The girls were up first, and it was Lesley McDonald who took the judges decision for first place. Catherine Wilkinson was second, with Jessica Dubois third. There was a field of seven in the Male Kata, and it was full of quality. After all had performed their kata, Alan Gillert was a clear winner, but Beau Beaumont and Daniel Tregenza were tied for second. Beau and Daniel each performed a different Kata, and it was Beau who edged out Daniel for second place, relegating Daniel to third. Female Kumite was next, with four evenly matched competitors. In the first bout, Jess took the points over Lesley to advance to the final. The other bout was a contrast with a lot more kicks, with Catherine taking the points over Dragana to advance to the final against Jess. Lesley took on Dragana for third place and after some pretty "keen" sparring, it was Lesley who took the bout. The final saw Catherine Wilkinson a bit too experienced for Jess to take out the final. It was a good event for Jess, with her change of strategy working well for her. In yet another farcial draw, the six Black Belt Males were drawn against each other in three bouts, with the winners going on to compete for the medals. Any other number of competitors would have seen semi finals and 2 finals but like the female event at Round 1, common sense did not prevail. The first bout saw Seb Nazar take on Ben Juett. After an entertaining bout, with lots of high kicks, it was Seb who won. Daniel Tregenza then took on Beau Beaumont, with the stand up style of daniel contrasting to the speed of Beau. However, it was the very experienced Daniel who took out the bout and advanced to the medal rounds. Jeremy Thompson against Alan Gillert in the closest heat, and points were tied after two minutes. In a very close call, the judges awarded the deciding point to Jeremy in the extension. Seb took on Daniel in the first of the Medal bouts, and it went point for point. Once again Seb got some high kicks in, but it was the punches of Daniel that took more points for his to win the bout. Daniel then faced Jeremy, and once again the bout went down to the final point for the decider. This time it was Jeremy who took out the bout, with Daniel in second place and Seb automatically third. As mentioned in the Round 1 Report, surely two competitors could have been seeded and given a first round bye to reduce the field to 4 for semi finals. Just use the results from the previous Tournament to decide the seeding for byes.

The final events for the day were the Team Kumite events, and three Teams were entered in both the Female and Male events. The Female Teams were fairly evenly matched, with each of the bouts going down to the final pair in each event. The Sparring was quite spirited with several "contact" warnings to the "ladies". It was that fast and furious that at one stage, Referee Shane Bennett called contact on the person who had been hit, but fortunately no point was awarded. It was a rather bemused Dragana that rubbed her cheek. However, it was competed in good spirit and was warmly received by the spectators and girls. First place went to the team of Zoe Tyler, Tamsin Ing, Dragana Calic, Jackie Probert and Cathy Croci. Second place went to the Team of Linda Donnellan, Catherine Wilkinson, Jessica Dubois, Rhiannon Ralph and Lesley McDonald, with third place to the team of Suzanne Begley, Julie Boyd, Julie Munchenberg, Barb Hesselschwerdt and Tabatha Dodd. Team Jungle, consisting of Beau Beaumont, Jeremy Thompson, Alan Gillert, Sebastian Nazar and Daniel Tregenza, was back and it was no surprise that they took out the Gold, winning nine out of ten of their bouts.  Competition for second and third was a lot more even, and by 3-2 bouts, it was the team of Nik McDonald, Ben Juett, Craig Johnstone, Sean Hutton and Daniel Andrew that took out the Silver from Purple Haze from Burnside Dojo, represented by Brenton Wells, Mark Ingle, John Edgar, Andre Langos and Martin Henschke

It was again a very well run event, with the 4 ring layout ensuring that there was plenty of room between rings to allow competitors ample room to prepare and compete. The event ran smoothly with plenty of officials. The tiered seating allows for very good spectator viewing. The State Team did the catering and thanks go to the Spiteri, Harford and Andrews families, Steve, Ron and others, for manning the BBQ and other catering on the day. Around $430 was raised to assist State Team members to attend National Tournaments. Thanks also go to John McDonald, Tamsin Ing and others who provided Photo and Video content from the day.

The official GKR Karate Tournament report can be downloaded here.