Backwell score Silver at National Karate champs

3 May 2014

Backwell Karate take silver

Backwell Karate continued their run of success by taking Silver in the Senior Team Kata event at the KUGB National Championships on Saturday.

The tournament, held at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena, saw the club searching for its fifth successive competition in the medals. This time it was against the Karate Union of Great Britain’s finest, from right across the country. With the club's last medal at this competition coming in 1996 it was always going to be a big ask, but one that the competitors rose too.

Backwell Karate squad photo The 13-person strong Backwell team, made up of men, women and children, competed across kumite (free-fighting) and kata (forms) with some great individual performances, however with the level of competition so high, there were no medal contenders from the individual events. And after the men's kumite team narrowly lost to a Bargoed team containing Welsh internationals it was down to the last event for the club to make their mark.

Backwell Karate's elite senior kata team (Devon Troskie, Steven Connell and Tim Griffiths) made their way into the evening's finals with a performance of the kata 'Empi' that saw them qualify in first place. Backwell eventually took Silver, performing 'Sochin', behind the Sendai Kushiro team from Sunderland, made up of KUGB England internationals Holly Sterling, Beth Nicholson and Sam Light. After the event, coach Tim Griffiths said, "We're really pleased to pick up the first ever medal for the club in the adult categories at this competition, which is such a prestigious event. There were great performances by everyone from the club throughout the day, testament to the effort that everyone has been putting in."

When asked if the team will be taking some time to rest up, Griffiths responded, "Not a chance! With the Southern Region Championships just around the corner it's straight back to the dojo to keep practising and drilling!"