19 May 2007 Individual Shiai

The 19th of May saw the first Individual Kendo Shiai of the SAKF for 2007 at the Japanese School. Unfortunately the turnout was not too good as only 11 competitors pitched up for the event- 6 for the Kyu grade shiai and 5 for the Dan grade shiai.

Nevertheless, the excitement amongst the competitors was evident from the first few fights in the Kyu grade shiai!

The Kyu grade competitors comprised of Desley, Sebastian and Ebrahem from the Fodushin Dojo, Smith(?) from KenYuKai and Magen and Andrew from the San Kawa Dojo.

The Kyu fights were spirited and eventually Andrew and Magen had a face-off in the 1st semi final. Andrew won with 2 mens to proceed to the finals. The second semi final was between Smith and Ebrahem with Ebrahem proceeding to the finals.

The Kyu final between Andrew and Ebrahem took place before the Dan grade Final. Andrew won the Kyu grade division with a men strike.

In the Dan competition, there were 2 pools. The first pool comprised of Mitchell, Craig and myself. The 2nd pool comprised of Ivor and Francis.

In the first pool, Mitch and I fought with Mitch taking an early do. I countered with a debane kote, but Mitch eventually won with a do cut.

The 2nd match between Mitch and Craig ended with Mitch losing by a kote.

The 3rd match was between Craig and myself. I took my first point for the day with a single- handed tsuki thrust! I thought it was pretty good as I hit the target spot on, with the foot-stomp and kiai (That is what the picture is of, by the way)! Anyway, Craig came back with a do strike. I eventually won with a men strike.

Since there was a draw in the 1st pool as each competitor won one and lost one, we had to have a rematch round-robin, but only with one-point match:

1st round again was Mitch and myself. I took his men and won that fight.

2nd round was Craig and myself. I lost as Craig took my kote.

3rd fight was Craig and Mitch, with Mitch losing to Craig with a men strike.

So, as it stood, Craig and myself would proceed to the semi-finals.

The second pool of Ivor and Francis only had the one fight with Francis being victorious with 2 men strikes. They both proceeded to the semi finals.

The first semi-final was between Francis and myself. Francis took the match with a men and kote strike to proceed into the finals.

The 2nd semi-final was between Craig and Ivor. Craig won with 2 do strikes.

The final between Francis and Craig was long as it went past the 3 minute mark and into extra time. Craig eventually took men to win the shiai.

All in all, considering the number of competitors, the shiai wend well and I think we all learnt a thing or two for next time.