Four members of the highly successful Kimura Shukokai Karate Kent club returned triumphant on Sunday from Helsinki, Finland after competing in the KSI European Open karate championships.

The four members travelled as part of the Shukokai Karate Federation’s England team and brought back with them six Gold and one Bronze medals. The England team topped the overall medals table and the Kent members made up for half of the total Gold medals won by the England team.

Katie Simpson from Kingswood an instructor with the club, followed up her silver medal at the World championships in Atlantic City USA last year by taking three European Golds. Katie from Kingswood and who runs the clubs Downswood dojo, won her first Gold in the individual kata (forms) event with a very strong performance of one of the style’s most difficult kata.

She then joined up with two other England ladies to take on the England men’s team in the final of the team kata event. This event requires the same moves that are performed in the individual event but there has to be perfect synchronisation between the three martial artists. The ladies took the gold by a score of 3-2 against the men.

Katie then joined up with the ladies fighting team to take on a team from the USA in what is one of the blue riband events of the Championships. The ladies were far too strong to the Americans and triumphed by a score of 3-0 thus winning Katie her third Gold medal.

Jack Cutler (15) from Leeds was competing in his second European competition and was determined to defend the kumite (fighting) title he won in England in 2011. Jack had his work cut out as he had moved up an age group and was competing with some other boys aged 17.

Jack was not deterred and fought well throughout the qualification rounds to reach the final where he beat his Swedish opponent by a score of 6-0 thus retaining his title. In the same category Adam Axford from Maidstone fought in the other side of the draw and narrowly missed a place in the final against Jack. He then entered into the repercharge for third place and fought well to take the bronze medal.

Christine Bordean (14) from Lenham fought in the girls event and again showed all her flair in reaching the final where she beat her Finnish opponent in a tight match.

Jack, Christine and Adam then joined together in the junior team kata event for which they had spent many hours in training. They met a very strong team from Germany in the final but again their dedication to their training shone through when they won the event by a score of 5-0.

Club Instructor Chris Simpson, who travelled with the squad said, “The squad members have spent endless hours training for this event and it is heart warming to see all that hard work pay off. Not only do they train at their clubs in and around Maidstone but also with the national squad in Birmingham once a month and every weekend for the 5 weeks prior to the event.”

“There is no central funding for karate, (which is hoping to become an Olympic event for the 2020 Olympics), so all the funding for the trip has to be raised by the students themselves”.

The next international event is the KSI World Championships which are to be held in Sun City, South Africa in 2014. The club hopes that Katie, Jack, Christine and Adam will all be able to compete there as well as a few other members of the club but this will require some serious fundraising.

If anyone is prepared to assist with some sponsorship please contact Chris or Katie on 07801 639052 or [email protected]

The club runs classes at Kingswood, Charing, Marden, Maidstone, Lenham and Downswood and if anyone is interested in joining the club please visit their website at www.kentkarate.co.uk or contact Chris or Katie.