Passage West Karate International Success
A 26-person Irish squad competed at the 8th Shotokan Karate-Do of United Nations (SKDUN) European Karate Championships in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland on 14th and 15th April. The Championships are recognised as amongst the biggest and toughest traditional shotokan karate tournaments in Europe, with an average of 35 countries and 1,700 competitors being represented at each Championship over the three-day event.
This year Ireland was one of 23 countries that competed at the championship, which saw in the region of 1,600 athletes take to the competition arena and battle it out for the title of European Champion in their respective age categories.
The Passage West Karate club, (affiliated to IJKA Ireland), had no less than 9 of its members selected to represent Ireland at the Championship. The 9 club members were Maeve O’Brien, Aisling Corkery, Sinead O’Flynn, Thea Batemen, Daniel Rea, Holly Rea, Conall O’Callaghan, Eoghan Mason and Patrick Curtin. In addition to the competitors, the Club’s instructors Michael Keohane and Joe Hunter also formed part of the national coaching squad, while long serving Club members Danielle O’Donovan and Grace Mason represented Ireland as tournament officials in a refereeing capacity.
The club held a celebration for the successful members on Saturday evening.
The tournament was a fantastic success story for the Irish, who finished up ranking 6th out of the 23 Countries that participated at the Championship, finishing ahead of much larger nations such as Russia, Germany, Italy, France, England, and Poland.
The Irish collected a haul of 26 European medals; 4 gold, 4 silver and 18 bronze. The Passage west members won an amazing tally of 13 of the 26 medals collected by team Ireland; 2 gold, 1 silver and 10 bronze.
All the Passage members performed brilliantly at this championship. Maeve O’Brien, Eoghan Mason and Thea Batemen put on a very dynamic display in their team kata category. Maeve O’Brien, Eoghan Mason and Patrick Curtin also showed great spirit and skill to see off several talented opponents in their respective kata and kumite categories, finishing up just outside the medals in the end.
READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS STORY & MUCH MORE ON OUR DIGITAL EDITION: http://subscriber.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/subscribe.aspx?eid=c946bff2-f434-4a7b-a75d-621998d7e750