KATA REPORT

The Armeo Arena Sports Hall was home for three days to the twenty one strong Irish Squad along with their coaches who travelled to compete in the 2017 Junior Europeans. The event was held in Sofia in Bulgaria and had a record number of entries. Over 1145 young athletes from 50 countries competed in front of a very enthusiastic crowd from the 17th to the 19th of February. The Irish squad, coaches and supporters who were based in the headquarters hotel had their pre-training and final preparations in the training halls off the Armeo Arena. This gave the Irish athletes a great opportunity to get a feel for the arena before they competed.

Coaches John Connolly, Marie Dolphin, Mark Sheridan and Simon O Dowd were kept busy with final coaching sessions, draws, refereeing and delegate meetings all prior to the championships.

Four of Team Ireland competed in the Kata events, Davey Gannon – Male Cadets, Eimear Porter – Junior Female, James Lynskey – Junior Male and Kian Porter Male Under 21s. First on for Ireland was Davey Gannon. Davey was up against Bosnia and Herzegovina in his first round. Davey did a strong Empi which gave him all five flags and a great start for Team Ireland. In his second round he competed with Kanku Sho beating his Hungarian opponent's Goju Shiho Sho convincingly. Davey competed against Italy in his third round but this time he was beaten by a very good technical performance of Papporen. As the Italian advanced this secured Davey a place in repechage against France. Both competitors chose Goju Shiho Sho and both looked sharp. However the judges went for the slightly snappier Italian performance and Davey lost out 4-1. This was an outstanding performance by Davey at his first Europeans and a reflection on the intense training regime that he underwent prior to the competition.

Next up was Eimear Porter who was drawn against a physically strong Turkish competitor. Eimear did a good Chatinyara Kashanku but could not match the power of the Turkish girl so losing out in the first round 5-0.

James Lynskey met Cerovic of Serbia in his opening round. Both chose Goju Shiho Sho as their first kata. James did a very controlled, powerful kata but just lacked the timing and speed that the Serbian injected into his performance thus losing 4-1 but again a great performance for a first time competitor at a Europeans

Kian Porter drew Bartincki of Romania in his first round. Kian was first out and did a very impressive Chatanyara Kushanku which scores high on technicality. It didn't go Kian's way on this occasion and he was unlucky to lose on a split decision 3-2.

It was a very good Championship for this young Kata Team all of whom show great potential for the future and they will no doubt get their opportunity to do even better next time out.

KUMITE REPORT

A combined Kata and Kumite squad of 21 Irish Karate athletes travelled to the 40th Junior Europeans Karate Championships, a three day event, which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria in February 2017. On the first day, Friday, the following athletes participated in the cadet section "14 to 15yrs"

• David Crilly male-53kg
• James Renehan male -57kg
• Niall Carolan male -63kg
• Jessie O Reilly female -47
• Ayla O Sullivan female -53kg
• Rachel Murphy +53kg
• Sean McCarthy, male -70kg
• Chris McCarthy, male +70kg

David Crilly was first to fight for Ireland and despite a very technical and cagy fight, David lost (4.1) to his Spanish opponent.

James Renehan was pitched against a Russian opponent in the first round who went on to win a silver medal in the competition. Despite James's best efforts he was unable to break him down. James got back in through the repechage but lost out to a Georgian opponent.

Niall Carolan, having got a bye in the first round, Niall won against his Georgian opponent ( 2.1) in the second round but lost out to a French fighter in the third round after a very hard fight. He got back into the competition through the repechage only to lose out to an Ukraine opponent.

Twin brothers, Sean and Chris McCarthy, competed in their respective categories. Sean drew the finalist in the first round, an opponent from Bosnia & Herzegovinian and narrowly lost out with a score of 1.0.

Sean came back in through the repechage, beating a French opponent in the first round but lost out (7.4) to a Hungarian opponent in the second round after some very good fighting by both competitors.

Chris who progressed to the second round was beaten (4.1) by a Spanish opponent who won his way to the final. On Chris's return through the repechage he won his first round (8.0) against a Cyprian opponent and beat a German competitor convincingly ( 9. 1) in the second round. Unfortunately Chris was beaten in the final of the repechage by a Croatian opponent which denied him a bronze medal.

Jessie O Reilly who got a bye in the first round, lost out to a very strong Hungarian opponent in the second round.

Ayla O Sullivan took the early stages of the fight against her Greek opponent but lost out by a score of 4.1towards the end.

Rachel Murphy was up against a Cyprian opponent and after some very good defensive work lost out with a score of 2.0.

On Saturday, the following athletes participated in the Junior section of the competition:

• Rudhrai Collins -68kg
• Conor O Sullivan -62kg
• Mathew Martin -74kg
• Seona Gannon -48kg
• Shannon Nulty -59kg.

Rudhrai Collins progressed to the fourth round of the competition beating Finnish and Maltase fighters in the first and second rounds by flags. He won against his Georgian opponent (8.0) in the third round but was unlucky to be beaten by flags against an Albanian opponent in the fourth round. This consequently denied him a place in the final of his pool section. Nonetheless this was an outstanding achievement by Rudhraí to have succeeded so far in a major competition.

Shannon Nulty put in a great performance against a Danish fighter losing out (3.1) only to be caught for two scores towards the end of the fight.

Seona Gannon lost in the second round to a Scottish opponent but performed well in her category.

Conor O Sullivan despite his best efforts lost out to a Serbian competitor.

Mathew Martin was very unfortunate to be beaten by technical faults against an English opponent in the first round.

On the Sunday, it was the turn of the U/21. Four athletes participated in this section:

• Shauna Mullaney-55kg
• Geri Friel -61kg
• Nicole Perry -68kg
• Jordan Harrigan -67kg.

Shauna Mullaney took the fight all the way only losing by a single score in a tough fight against her Romanian opponent.

Geri Friel was fighting against a Slovenian fighter but failed to penetrate her very strong defence, thus losing out in the first round.

Nicole Perry despite fighting strongly against her Spanish opponent was unable to get much needed scores.

Jordan Harrigan was the last of the Irish competitors to fight and despite his best efforts he was unable to get scores against his Greek opponent. Disappointing for Jordan as this was his last time competing at junior and u/21 level. Over the years he has come so close to winning that much sought-after medal which he truly deserves. We wish him the very best as he continues his endeavours in the senior section

Due to the performance and success of a number of athletes in the repechage, Ireland have proudly four athletes ranked in the top fifteen in Europe.

• Chris McCarthy 5th
• Sean McCarthy 7th
• Niall Carolan 9th
• James Renehan 11th.

I wish to congratulate all the athletes who participated in the competition. Irish karate has progressed enormously in the last number of years due to the efforts of all the athletes on the squad.

Invaluable experience is gained through competing at such a high level. This experience will be of great benefit as we prepare for the World Juniors which takes place in October 2017.

A sincere thanks to all the coaches who assisted at the competition.

A particular word of thanks to all parents who gave of their time to travel and support the athletes during the event.

I'm confident that success will come our way in the not too distant future.

Yours in Sport John Connolly. National Junior Kumite Coach.