Association do Shotokan Karate (ASK) of the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) bagged 57 medals at the10th annual Caribbean Karate Championships in Barbados on July 13 and 14 at the Barbados Community College.
According to a press release from association, 22 karatekas from the ASK Dojo came up against the best from several Caribbean countries including host country Barbados. They competed in the team and individual Kata, Kumite, Enbu and Bunkai. Of the 57 medals won, 24 are gold, 12 are silver and 21 are bronze. The Individual Male 17-19 years Kata finals resulted in gold for Samuel Ming, silver for Lloyd Gibson and bronze for Shane Rahaman, all from Guyana. Samuel Ming has lost at Kata only once in the last 5 years— at last year’s world championships when he missed it by point one of a point. He is the best decorated team member with 2 gold medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze. His other gold came in the Male 17-19 Team Enbu, his silver in the Adult Team Kata and the bronze in the Individual Male 17-19 Kumite, the release said.
The Individual Male Adult Kata saw Roger Peroune being pipped by point one of a point for the gold. Barbados number one and World Silver Medallist, Corey Greaves took the gold and the bronze went to Andre Lovell also of Barbados. The release said the Female Individual Adult Kata saw close competition with Nathalie Gibson having four ties before losing the round after her knee injury acted up and affected her performance. She, however, retained the gold in Kumite, a title she is now holding for 4 years.
The Adult Male Team Kata saw Barbados take the gold and Guyana’s Patrick Cheeks, Roger Peroune and Samuel Ming the silver. Team Trinidad took the bronze, the release said. Guyana’s Kemo Cornelius, Shane Wilkinson and Shaquille Agard easily captured gold in the Boys 14-16 Team Kata. ASK’s Medarishi Ramdhani teamed up GKC’s Aubrey Bettencourt and Kenrick Cheeks of GKC to win the Team Enbu and bronze in Team Kata and Team Bunkai in the Masters division.
Meanwhile, the release said, in the adult male category, Peroune put up a serious challenge against Barbados’ number two Michael Mercer in the Individual Kumite. According to the release, Peroune scored first which surprised Mercer who came back to level the score. Peroune scored again but was denied and this allowed Mercer the win when his next attack was awarded.
Patrick Cheeks and Keith Beaton lost in the second round of the individual Kumite in close encounters that could have gone either way. This same duo qualified for the semifinal in the team Kumite where they came up against Trinidad before losing the match. The bronze medal match was also lost.
Samuel Ming, Lloyd Gibson and Shane Rahaman stepped up and entered the Adult Team Kumite as a ‘B’ team. Ming was first up against Daniel Shim of Trinidad. Ming scored first to take the lead and scored again when he accidentally connected with a powerful punch that floored Shim.
After Shim recovered, the ring judge was about to award the match to Ming when the head table intervened and after some deliberation reversed the decision and warned him. This caused him to be over cautious and he lost after Shim scored twice, the release said.
Lloyd Gibson then lost his match and although Shane Rahaman won his encounter the team lost and was eliminated. The match between Ming and Shim became a hot topic among the competitors, the release said.
There were other outstanding performances in team and individual Kata, Kumite, Bunkai and Enbu in the various male and female age categories with Kristina Cheeks (17-19) capturing gold in individual Kata and Kumite, Leah Shariff (14-16) capturing silver in Individual Kata, bronze in Individual Kumite and Bronze in Team Enbu. Theresa Sampat (11-13) won silver in Individual Kata. Alexander Cheeks (11-13) won silver in Individual Kata, gold in Team Bunkai and silver in team Enbu. Joshua Mortley (11-13) captured gold in team Bunkai and silver in team Enbu. Tariq Dundas (11-13) won gold in team Bunkai and silver in team Enbu. Daniel Jailall, Aryan Singh and Mitish Ramdhani (8-10) won bronze in Team Enbu. Nixon Cheeks (14-16) took bronze in Individual Kumite, (17-19) Gold in team Kata and team Enbu, and Jason Jerrick Bronze medals in Adult team Bunkai and team Enbu.
