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NZ women make quarters at World Uni Karate Champs
Monday, August 7th, 2006
New Zealand finished the World University Karate Championships on a strong note with a very good performance by the NZ Women’s team in the team kumite event.
In their first round match at the Championships in New York City, NZ came up against Khazakstan. Amy Thomason (Massey Wellington) lead off for NZ and, as it turned out, set up the team for victory with an impressive 4-0 victory. Next up for NZ was Kylie Rochford (Canterbury) who earned a hard fought 3-3 draw. This meant the match would go to the wire in the third bout with Tamara Glyn (Auckland) having to win, draw or lose by less than 4 points to secure the NZ team win. In a fluctuating match, Tamara always had the big picture in mind and while losing 3-5 the team victory was under control. Final result 1 win each and 1 draw so the match was decided on count back of total points; NZ10 Khazakstan 8.
In the second round NZ faced Chinese Taipei. NZ really hit their straps and demolished their opponents. First up Amy Thomason was too strong and overpowered her opponent 6-0. Kylie Rochford followed suit with an impressive 5-0 win. Tamara Glyn did not need to fight as NZ had an unassailable 2-0 lead.
In the quarter finals NZ came up against Italy. Italy are one of the big guns in World Karate and on this occasion proved too strong for NZ. Amy Thomason lost 1-5 and Kylie Rochford lost 0-1. Italy were beaten by Japan in the semifinal so there was no repechage opportunity. However, reaching the last eight in a field of 29 national teams is an excellent result. Coming on top of the silver medal at last year’s Commonwealth Championships the result augers well for future success by our senior women’s team.
The NZ men’s team were handicapped by the late withdrawal of Chris Bennett and Alexander Sotirovski. That left only Brendon Running (Auckland), Travis Butler (Auckland) and Scott Roche (Victoria) available. As men’s team kumite involve 5 person teams, NZ would automatically forfeit the first two matches 0-8. As we all know Kiwis are always prepared to give themselves a chance whatever the odds; Brendon, Travis and Scott are no exception. NZ drew Canada and having forfeited the first two matches Brendon Running had to win or at least draw to keep the match alive. Canada decided to try and end it early and opened with their star player and World Games bronze medallist Henri Poirier. Brendon showed he had learned the lessons of his individual match and showed the World Games medallist no fear. At 18 and first year out from Rangitoto College, Brendon is more boy wonder than Batman at this stage but he had Poirier in serious trouble. The end result was a 3-3 draw but all the plaudits were with Brendon. Next up for NZ was Travis Butler. The Oceania Gold medallist and Commonwealth bronze medallist had to win by a clear 8 points to keep NZ alive. For those who don’t know the sport, in Karate terms this is not impossible but very, very difficult, especially at this level of international competition. However, taking a leaf out of boy wonder’s book, Travis went like a bat out of Hell and raced to a 7-2 lead. Suddenly the improbable looked possible. However, in trying to close out the match Travis got into foul trouble. In the end penalty points allowed the Canadian to take the match 8-7. Scott Roche did not get to fight as the Canadians had an unassailable lead. However, the NZ team could take heart in a spirited performance.
In the previous two days of individual competition the results had been less flattering. On day 2 Travis Butler, Brendon Running and Kylie Rochford all made first round exits with no repechage opportunities. Travis lost 0-5 to Chile in a match that was close at 0-2 until the last 145 seconds when Travis had to throw caution to the wind and concede a sanbon kick to the head (captured vividly on the tournament DVD much to Travis’s chagrin). Brendon Running concede an early sanbon (sweep and follow up punch) in his match against Poland and was never able to peg the Polish fighter back. The final score was 4-10. The Polish fighter went on to take the bronze medal. Kylie Rochford went down 1-4 to USA in a match that had the mainlander very annoyed. However, she more than atoned two days later in the team kumite bouts.
On day three Travis Butler and Tamara Glyn fronted for NZ in the men’s and women’s individual open weight kumite. Travis was first up and fought very well to end up 4-4 at full time. The match went to overtime and unfortunately the judges’ flags did not go Travis’s way. Tamara came up against Chile and was unlucky to lose 1-2. After spending most of the match trying to set up her trade mark mawashi geri (high roundhouse kick to the head for the non-karate folk) she finally got a chance with 15 seconds to go. Coach Chris Bennett reports that the kick was clear and on target but was waved away by the referee presumably on the basis that it lacked sufficient power. Very unlucky.
In summary, the NZ team returned home without medals. The target was to reach the last eight. The women’s team achieved that target. The men’s team could be excused given they were two short. In the individual matches, only Amy Thomason progressed beyond the first round. However, having said that the NZ team is very young. Amy Thomason, Sarah Campbell, Scott Roche and Brendon Running are all in their first year as senior players. Together with Kylie Rochford and Tamara Glyn this was their first taste of World University Championship level competition. Given the way in which they improved throughout the tournament, they will be back again.
Leo Donnelly, President Karate New Zealand
