Malta represented by our local Karate school – SKSM Malta, was among ten other countries which participated in the London International Karate Open Championships, last weekend. The Maltese team achieved extremely good results in this tournament which had an entry field of 610 athletes from 39 organisations.
The SKSM Maltese team, which consisted of 14 athletes and three officials was headed by head and coach, Chris Galea, have been undergoing intense training for the past five months. The Maltese team also ended up placing third overall winners accumulating the third highest points from all the 39 teams participating.
Our junior athletes were first to compete in their respective categories. Andrew Galea and Natasha Fenech managed to place second and third place after a tie for second place. This was the biggest category with over 55 athletes competing.
Kristabel Borg managed to place third in the under 15 years, Colour belts category, while Anneka Tabone, won her Brown Belt category.
Adonia Sammut managed to add another two first places, in the Novices (16 years over) and Women’s Novices category while Lydia Schembri got second place and first place in the female intermediate category.
Lucienne Galea and Michael J. Grima managed third place in the Women’s Open and Senior Open category respectively. In the Masters category, Chris Galea landed another gold medal for Malta finishing first place in front of two top Isshin-ryu English athletes.
In the team events, the Junior SKSM Maltese team outfit, turned in a brilliant performance of synchronised Kata. Nine teams participated in this category and SKSM Malta proudly finished up first on the podium after a close encounter with an Egyptian team placing second.
The team was composed of Andrew Galea, Cedric Gauci and Malcolm Calleja. The other Junior team (Kristabel Borg, David Gauci, Natasha Fenech) finished in third place in their Intermediate team event.
The Senior Women Kata, (Lucienne Galea, Clara Caruana, Anneka Tabone) which also gave a stunning performance, had to settle for third place in the Senior team events after a slight loss of balance caught the eyes of the judges.
In the Kumite (fighting) section, Steve Polidano, managed to win the Senior Novices (under 75 kg).
In the team events, the seniors male team had to face a very tough challenge from top fighting athletes coming from Germany, Italy, England, Wales and Scotland. While the SKSM female team had to settle for another third place after a brave performance against the German and the English team in the semi-finals.