JKS England Team in Dubai
JKS England Squad members have just returned from a 6 day trip to Dubai where they competed in the Dubai Open and WKF Premier League.
The Dubai Open was on Thursday 7th and Friday 8th of April. Our people all competed on the Thursday. We had six youngsters competing in the Dubai Open, which was for those aged Under 18 Years.
Rowan Reeve lost in the first round of Cadet Male Kata to Pakistan.
Joe Hird lost in the first round of Male Kata Under 14 Yrs to Italy.
Amber Bannister lost in the first round of Junior Female Kata to Egypt.
Lacie Stembridge also lost very narrowly 3-2 to Egypt in the first round of Junior Female Kata.
Johann Santos had a Bye in the first round of Junior Male Kata but lost narrowly 3-2 to Algeria in the second round.
Despite all of them going out first match, they all performed well and looked assured and confident on the 'big stage'.
In Kumite we faired better.
Amber Bannister lost in her first fight to Italy 2-0, but as she'd had a bye in the first round, this was the Quarter Final and she narrowly missed a medal position.
Joe Hird had a bye in the first round, then beat Palestine 4-0 in the second round before losing 6-4 to Iran in the Quarter-Final, again narrowly missing a medal.
The Icing on the cake was David Lister's performance in Cadet Male Kumite -70Kg. Having a bye in the first round he beat Italy 4-0 in the second round. He then drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia in the third round but took the decision on Hantei. In the Semi Final he drew 3-3 with United Arab Emirates but lost the decision on Hantei and had to settle for Bronze. A great performance.
The WKF Premier League took place on the Saturday and Sunday, with our 4 competitors all competing on the Saturday.
Jordan Weatherly lost first round to Algeria in Male Kata.
Johann Santos, aged just 16, won his first round match against Oman 5-0 before going out to South Africa in the second round in Male Kata.
Ashley Scott-Heald beat South Africa 2-0 in the first round before losing 1-0 to Tunisia in the second round.
The best performance of the day was from Lee Lamb who beat Qatar 3-2 in the first round, Nepal 5-0 in the second round before losing to Germany in the third round.
Very good performances from all of them, particularly given that Jordan and Johann were making their Premier League début.
Ashley has moved up to 66 in the world in Female Kumite -61Kg.
Lee is ranked 120 in Male Kata, making both of them in the top 20% in the World in their respective events, a fantastic achievement.
The Squad is next in action at the EKF Nationals in Sheffield over the weekend of 16th & 17th April.
For the full results of the Dubai open click here.