Cambridge University Karate Club (CUKC) made a golden start to their competitive season on Saturday, as all eight competing members returned home from the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB) Student National Championships in Chesterfield with medals. 

Having had a successful competition season last year – culminating in CUKC’s 10th consecutive Varsity triumph against Oxford – the Light Blues succeeded in their goal of starting to build up some winning form to help them carry on this streak later in the season. 

The tournament began with eliminations for the kata (performance) competition, in which CUKC had competitors across all four categories: both male and female black belt and kyu grade (non-black belt). In the female kyu grade kata, Mara Graziani took the first medal of the day for the Light Blues, securing silver after being narrowly beaten to gold by two tenths of a point. Meanwhile, Philip Rupp reached the male kyu grade finals and, as a purple belt outranked by many of his brown belt competitors, defied the odds to secure third place with a fantastic performance of a lower-grade kata. And there was yet more success for CUKC in female black belt grade kata, as Lis Kerr, having made it through to the finals, performed exceptionally to overcome national-standard competitors and claim a bronze medal.

Admirably overcoming the disappointment of a defeat in the first round of male black belt kata eliminations, Heng Xuan went on to win gold for the Light Blues in the team kata, accompanied by Vlad Soltuz and Jamie Lowenthal. Sharply synchronised and powerful in their kata performance, the CUKC trio always looked destined to beat the two other teams to the top spot.

Following great success in the kata competitions, the Light Blues continued their domination of the tournament on the mats, with six competitors representing the club in all four kumite (competition fighting) categories. 

In the male kyu-grade kumite, Rupp and Patrick Swain both won their elimination fights to make it an exciting CUKC v CUKC final. Indeed, it was illustrative of the Light Blues’ sheer domination of the competition that Rupp and Swain were fighting at the same time as the female kyu-grade final, leaving their spectating CUKC teammates spoilt for choice as to whom they could support. 

In the men’s final, after Swain received a contact warning and Rupp a warning for going out of the area, the fight ended a nil-nil tie. Put to the judges’ decision, it was to be Swain who was awarded the match, the gold medal and the CUKC bragging rights.

Meanwhile, in the women’s competition – buoyed by her silver medal from earlier in the day – Graziani won both of her elimination matches thanks to her ability to stay light on her feet and sharp with her attacks. And in the final, it was the Italian’s sneaky body punches that took her straight to gold in what represents a fantastic result for her first adult competition.

All sports are created equal

Elsewhere, co-captains Vlad Soltuz and Ellen Weaver were on display in their respective black belt kumite events. After Soltuz had been automatically moved on to the second round after his first opponent failed to turn up, the Romanian’s first fight saw him take a solid blow from a punch to the head as he went in for an attack. Despite this, Soltuz persevered admirably and managed to bring it back with two subsequent body punches to progress through to the final round of eliminations. 

Up against a member of the KUGB England Squad, Soltuz – very much the underdog – fought long and hard to secure an impressive tie after the first two minutes, and repeated his feat after extra time. But luck was not with the CUKC skipper: the fight was eventually put to judges’ decision where, despite Vlad having held his own, his opponent was awarded the match.

In the female black belt kumite, Weaver won her eliminations fight with relative ease and, in her semi final, progressed with a punch to the body and one to the head. And she carried on this rich vein of form into the final, scoring her first point early in the match.

But the technique that ultimately clinched the win came towards the end of the fight: with height working in her favour, Weaver scored the winning point with a head punch to secure a gold medal and go two better than last year, having had to settle for bronze in the 2015 competition. 

With the karate experience of the CUKC team ranging from one to 12 years, the Light Blues’ performance at the KUGB Student National Championships was a perfect example of how hard work and determination can pay off. Returning to Cambridge with a total of four gold, two silver and two bronze medals, CUKC set the tone for how they want the competition season to play out this year.

CUKC: Weaver (c), Soltuz (c), Graziani, Rupp, Swain, Kerr, Lowenthal, Xuan