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CLICK ON A LINK TO VISIT THAT SECTION HOME KARATE KYOKUSHIN HANSHI CLUB PHOTOS PHOTO ARCHIVE VIDEO CLIPS DOJO INFO BEGINNERS ADULT CLASS JUNIOR CLASS BLACK BELTS ETIQUETTE KID'S FUN PAGE FORUM LINKS	Shinkyokushin French Knockdown Tournament 5th February 2005 The first knockdown of the year for most of the British fighters and a good contingent set off from Dover at 7am, arriving at the venue near Lille around 10.30am. No one seemed too sure what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised to see that weigh-ins and medicals were happening on time. Toyah Chandler from Gravesend was fighting in the heavyweight section along with Kelly Balmer, Lia Howlett and Helena Petit. Toyah's first fight started well against a much heavier fighter from MOKKO in Wales. Toyah moved well using combinations, not allowing her opponent to steamroller her. The first round was to be 3 minutes, followed by two further 2 minute rounds after which weight and boards, if applicable, would be considered followed by a further 2 minutes ensho-san if no conclusion was made. After Toyah's first 3 minutes there was no clear winner although Toyah was clearly on top so into the next 2 minutes, working great footwork and combinations again, putting the pressure on. The lesser time of this round made it easier for Toyah to step up the pressure in the last 30 seconds this time which she did, helped by a clearly visible judo clock, the atmosphere amongst the fellow fighters and supporters was superb as Toyah stepped up the pace, and this was true of many other fights BKK fighters were in throughout the day too, our crowd really getting behind our fighters. Toyah rightly got the flags this time. Toyah's next fight was against a fighter from Banzai in Sweden, their fighters were clearly quality and very strong, and this was the semi-final as Toyah had had a bye in the first round. This fight started much more evenly, he taller opponent trying to intimdate with jodan mae geris, and not appearing too keen on the close quarters work. Toyah worked hard throughout two rounds and was frustrated as she began to suffer from fouling by her opponent including 2 throat punches, a kick in the groin and and elbow to the face, which coincided with the Swede appearing more and more tired, and Kelly Balmer had endured the same from a clubmate of the Swede during her semi-final bout previously. At the end of the second round the judges were split as two caused jaws to drop by raising flags for the Swede following a clearly even fight which may not have been so even had Toyah not been fouled throughout the last 2 minutes. Amazingly the ref went with the two judges and Toyah was left in joint third along with the equally unfortunate Kelly.As the two clubmates from Banzai entered the womens' heavyweight final we were bemused to watch nothing more than a light sparring match, no throat punches, groin kicks or elbows and after 3 minutes of which the equally bemused and embarrassed judges simply flagged the highest grade. Toyah was, however, positive and pleased with her result. All the BKK fighters fought brilliantly and with great spirit. Other BKK trophy winners were: Felix Ntumazah 1st heavyweight men, Chris Odunaken 2nd middleweight men, Charlotte Bijlani 2nd lightweight women, Lisa Monteith 3rd lightweight women, Tom Silver 3rd heavyweight men. Chris Odunaken also won a trophy for best technician. BKK National Open Knockdown Tournament 9th October 2004 The build up to this tournament proved to be very exciting, just that sense in the air that it was going to be a good one. Unfortunately Senpai Malcolm Scott was still out of action following a knee operation, but Senpai Toyah Chandler was on good form, having spent the three months since the regional following an intense training schedule determined to make an impact. Toyah's first fight of the day was against a gutsy fighter from Seido Uk, Toyah started well working sharp combinations but was drawn into the centre for toe to toe exchanges. Toyah held her ground well and it was an arduous, impressive fight. After four minutes Toyah won on weight, being around 7 kilos lighter. Next fight was against the experienced Debra Hanney from Rhondha, Debra and Toyah fought with very similar styles, good footwork and sharp combinations, Toyah was finishing the combinations much better in this fight. Four minutes past with insufficient weight difference. Into ensho-san (decision needed from all judges) and Toyah set to work, Debra was very resilient and was still working but Toyah had her pinned in one corner of the area for around one minute of the two. Despite this two corner judges still managed to put up the opposing flags but the main ref decided in favour of Toyah. Into the semi-final against former champion Kelly Balmer from Bethnal Green, this was bound to be a tough fight. Toyah seemed to find more energy from somewhere despite Kelly's tough onslaught. Working the inside low kicks well and again picking up the combinations. This also went to ensho-san and Toyah won with three flags in her favour. Toyah went into the final with surprisingly little trepidation given the calibre of her opponent, current world lightweight champion (IFK) Zukhra Kurbanova from Russia. A strategy against the Russian was difficult to choose because of her supreme kicking ability and her close range power. Toyah set to work well, moving with footwork and combinations, but was taking too much punishment from the powerful Russian to the body. A jodan mawashi nearly connected and shortly thereafter Kurbanova delivered a tremendous punch to Toyah's ribs to score an ippon. A very satisfying day for Senpai Toyah in all, great experience to build on and a second place trophy from the National. BKK Regional Knockdown Tournament 5th June 2004 This year's regional knockdown was held at Llantrisant Leisure Centre in South Wales. Gravesend had two fighters entered, Toyah Chandler in the womens' regional heavyweight and Tony Card in the mens' novice heavyweight. Tony entered this tournament as something of a veteran at the age of 46 attempting his first knockdown which takes some courage, although the veteran novice is becoming something of a modern phenomenom. Tony had a bye in the first round, meeting a heavy lump in the second round. Tony moved well against this fighter (named Chim from Cranford we think) not giving away too much opportunity for him, but but he managed to blast some techniques through that hurt Tony. Tony fought hard but the weight and power of his opponent was too much and the judges rightly awarded the fight the other way after the first two minutes. A very good performance from Tony nonetheless. Toyah also had a bye in the first round and had to watch a gutsy first round fight between Kelly Balmer and Charlotte Bijlani to see who she would face first. Kelly came through as victor. Toyah worked some great combinations, visibly hurting Kelly's left leg early on, but as would be expected it was a very even fight, and Kelly wasn't going to let Toyah hit that leg too easily so it was a cat and mouse game. A draw was awarded at 2 minutes and a further 2 minutes fighting ensued, again it was a very even bout, Kelly trying to push forward with punches and hizas, Toyah working the legs and close punches. With both fighters tiring it looked all even for an ensho-san bout, weights being even, but unfortunately the judges were split, two flags shiro for Kelly and two Hiki-Waki, and the ref went with shiro. A disappointing end for Toyah but not the end of the world, another experience on the tatami to her credit and her best performance yet. Toyah took joint 3rd. Individual Nihon Shobu 15th May 2004 It has been few years since the Gravesend entry to this event has covered such a broad base of grades, gender and age. Senior blue belts, brown belts and black belts plus juniors of all grades made for a good atmosphere to compete in. It is impossible to detail every fight but this report is intended to give an overview of the day's fighting. There certainly was a buzz among the Gravesend fighters on the day, for several it was the first time out on the tatami and it's safe to say that the experience was very enjoyable for all. Peter had a very close fight in the first round of the mens' low grade category which went to sudden death as it was a draw and Peter narrowly lost out after a great performance. Tom Griffiths, also in the blue belt category, seemed to be enjoying the adrenalin after his first fight and made it to the second round after some excellent fighting. Suzanne Griffiths concentrated and settled down to some good fighting in the womens' low grade category, making it to the semi final and taking 3rd place.Kevin Harling-Phillips (from Sevenoaks) has recently been a regular visitor to Gravesend from our sister club Sevenoaks, and fought well to take a 3rd place trophy. Tony Card gave his all in the mens' brown belt and above category and made it to the second round. Senpai Toyah Chandler was surprised to find that while coaching on one area she was also due to fight on the adjacent one, a personal call to the mat is as welcome as a personal call to an aircraft when it is already packed with keen holidaymakers waiting for you before they can take off. It was a bad omen and her day was finished almost as quickly as it started, c'est la vie. Senpai Dave Dyas managed to dispense with an old rival in the 2nd round after a bye in the 1st, took on an able Crystal Palace fighter in the 3rd and unfortunately was narrowly despatched in the quarters. Senpai Tony Chandler was on fine form, squarely beating Anthony Flint from East Yorkshire 3-1 in the 3rd round, then Leon Lund Regan in the quarters, losing out narrowly to our old mate Adrian from Mountain Ash in the semis, taking 3rd. Great performance. The juniors were also on good form. Harpreet Panesar managed to stave off some very impressive fighters with footwork and a sharp gyaku tsuki to take 3rd in his category. James Brooks fought like a pro and made it through to the quarters. Antonia Brooks managed to calm her nerves and fought with real enthusiasm to also take 3rd. Josh Ring really came through on the day and made it to sudden-death in the final of his category, missing out narrowly to take the silver. A great day for the BKK as it was a great tournament, well done to the officials who did a great job under pressure as sadly they were undermanned yet again which meant they all had to work extremely hard. Also a great day for Gravesend, showing the old spirit of the club coming through yet again. Well done all. Regional Knockdown Tournament, Milton Keynes June 7th 2003 Senpai Toyah Chandler was the only Gravesend fighter in this tournament, Senpai Malcolm had pulled out due to sickness unfortunately. This was to be Toyah's first venture onto the mat in the open section of the tournament. There wasn't too long to wait before Toyah's first fight of the day. Toyah and her opponent, Catherine Williams from Mountain Ash, were the only two fighters having to fight to qualify for the semis, the other three had byes, and this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The fight began fairly evenly, Toyah giving away alot of height making it difficult to make an impact on Catherine. Toyah worked strong mae-geris but was expending alot of energy on single techniques that Catherine was spoiling. First two minutes was a draw, into the second two and Toyah seemed to pick up her stride, working more combinations and making an impression. After the 30 second bell Toyah launched a heavy assault with punches pushing Catherine back off the mat. Coupled with some good combinations earlier this was enough to convince three of the four judges that Toyah was the winner. Into the semi-final Toyah's next fight was to be with the experienced Lia Howells from Dunmow. Lia's mae-geris were keeping Toyah at a distance earlier on, but when Toyah managed to get round her and work in close she was making life difficult for Lia. Toyah was moving well and working very hard throughout, both fighters were landing some strong techniques. After four minutes and insufficient weight difference the fighters went into the last two minutes. Toyah was becoming tired and when Lia caught her with a stinging jodan mawashi to the head it was an omen of what was to come. Toyah was still working well with attacks but had gone flat-footed due to fatigue and her hands were dropping. Lia's experience told finally when she delivered an extended mawashi jodan that floored Toyah for an ippon. Despite this eventual result it was a great tournament for Toyah, with a joint third place trophy in her first regional tournament. An excellent result from an excellent tournament. Individual Nihon Shobu Championships, Reading May 17th 2003 There was a huge entry to this tournament as ever, especially amongst the juniors and senior men brown and black belts. With four fighting areas it's impossible to chronicle the whole tournament in detail or even to detail all Gravesend fighters' experiences on the day. Jessica Bond secured third place in her category, junior high grades, and was the only Gravesend student to get placed. All the juniors fought well and gained good experience on the day. All three senior entries, Senpai's Toyah, Tony and Dave had good first round fights and went through to the second round convincingly. Toyah lost out to Lindsey Moulden, the eventual winner in her second round fight in a very close and exciting fight. Tony and Dave also lost out in the second round. Well done to all Gravesend students who took the time to train and enter the tournament.	GRADING EVENTS
	BKK England v Wales, Gravesend April 12th 2003 Gravesend had the honour of hosting this prestigious and exciting tournament this year, and were keen to have it's own fighters in the squads to fight for England on home ground. Several of our juniors attend the squads regularly and are talented fighters, unfortunately none managed to get selected for this event. Senpai Malcolm Scott secured his place in the England knockdown squad during a tough selection at Crawley under Shihan Warden on the 6th April, Senpai Toyah Chandler was selected at Dunmow on 6th April also for the women's clicker squad by Senseis Turner and Jelli, and Senpai Dave Dyas was provisionally selected at the same selection, and was called up to fight with 24 hours notice. First up was Senpai Dave in the men's clicker event. Fighting at position number 5, all things were even with 2 losses and 2 wins a piece, so the pressure was on. This was to be a good fight, both fighters fairly cagey and scores were kept to a minimum as both fighters kept good defences going. A mistake by Dave cost him 2 points when an attempted chudan mawashi was blocked and countered. Trailing behind by 2 or 3 points at the 30 second bell and his opponent not giving many chances away, Dave managed to fire in 3 oi-tsukis to even up the scores. Credit to both fighters that this was also a very clean fight, except for an accidental punch on the nose for Dave. The judges were split at the end of the round and both fighters were given a creditable draw. This event went right to the wire with everything resting on fighter number 7 Senpai Alan to secure the win by getting either a draw or a win. He managed to pull it off in a very exciting and energetic finale and won the bout. England had won the gold. Next up was Senpai Toyah as Captain of the women's clicker team. Fighting Laura Moulden, this was quite an even and energetic fight, the opening bout of this event. Both fighters worked very hard early on firing off lots of techniques, this did however cause a loss of sharpness for both which minimised their yield of scores from their efforts. Toyah allowed herself to be drawn into chasing Laura, which left her always that bit short of scoring. Toyah was unable to pull back from the narrow lead Laura had and Laura being aware of her lead, strategically kept on the defensive, securing a win for Wales. Some good fights followed, but all the England women fought very well, but the Welsh managed to stay that bit ahead of the game, securing the gold for Wales. The England v Wales is well known as one of the most exciting places to see knockdown fighters ply their trade, it's all or nothing for just one fight, no further rounds to consider. Senpai Malcolm came out and launched a blistering attack on his opponent, stamping his authority down with excellent combinations, leaving his opponent permanently on the back foot. Their was no answer to Malcolm's experience, ability and fitness, Malcolm launched a combination that finished with an uchi kakato that caught his opponent as he tried to duck, securing Malcolm and the team an ippon within 2 minutes. A phenomenal performance. This event also went to the wire, with England's Kenny Mortin and Wales's Mark Goodwin slogging it out with combinations. Mark managed to impress the judges that bit more in ensho-san, securing a victory for the Welsh from a very exciting knockdown event. The event was a great success, along with the earlier AGM and the party that followed, and a note of thanks should be included to all the Gravesend students that worked extremely hard over the weekend to make the event possible. BKK National Kata Tournament 22 February 2003 This was a very well attended event as ever, and a very high standard. Gravesend entered a number of juniors in different categories, and one senior brown belt student. Nav made it through to the second round of junior yellow belts but didn't get through further despite performing an excellent kata. Thomas and James were entered in the junior green belt category and performed good katas but were unfortunate not to proceed to next round. Jessica had a long wait in the junior brown belt section and again performed a great kata but fell foul of the fact that this particular category was of an excellent standard, and didn't get through any further. The same was true of the senior brown belts where Dawn Grainger recieved a respectable 17.5 for Pinan Go, but to have gone through would have had to break 18 at least. There were two junior teams entered, A (Thomas, James and Nav) and B (Manpreet, Antonia and Harman), B team made it through to second round beating A teams' score by 0.1, but didn't go further. No medals for Gravesend this time (much to Manpreet's disappointment!) but a very creditable performance from all. BKK National Team Tournament 30 November 2002 Gravesend's placings in the above tournament were as follows: Girls under 5' joint 3rd Boys under 5' joint 3rd (b team) Mens clicker joint 3rd Well done to all of our teams that took part!
	National Knockdown 5 October 2002 Gravesend's resident knockdown fighters, Sempais Malcolm Scott (above, right) and Toyah Chandler, were both up for this tournament with their usual enthsiasm. Malcolm had the ambiguous 'benefit' of a by through the 1st round of the middleweight division. Although this has it's obvious advantages most fighters will say that going into the 2nd round without a fight under your belt has it's psychological disadvantages too. However, Malcolm squared up confidently to his 2nd round opponent, one of Haringay dojo's resident Polish fighters (where do they get them from??), and dominated the fight well with combinations. There was one near miss when the his opponent almost caught Malcolm square with jodan mawashi geri but it came to nothing. Following a stoppage, Malcolm came out aggressively and took advantage of his opponents tendency to drop his head by scoring a wazari with hiza-geri jodan. At the next hantei the fight went to Malcolm. In the next round (quarter-final) Malcolm faced Micheal Dvorak of Chelmsford, who was being coached by Sensei Trevor Marriott (ex-British Heavyweight champ). This was a pretty even and tough fight, both fighters working combinations well, Malcolm looked to have the edge in the first round but it was close and the judges gave a draw. The next round was more even still, with very little to separate the two fighters. At hantei a draw was given again and with no weight difference, Malcolm was awarded the fight having broken more boards than Micheal. Semi-Final This time Malcolm faced one of the top contenders of the day, Igor Titkov of Russia. Titkov came out headstrong with tough combinations that Malcolm had trouble containing, and he was caught early with a a very good inside low-kick that clearly hurt him. Malcolm battled on but was unable to recover and Titkov eventually gained a wazari with another low kick, and gained the decision after two minutes. Disappointed not to reach the final, Malcolm was very satisfied to reach a very respectable 3rd place at one of the toughest of tournaments. Sempai Toyah was once again frustrated to learn that her novice category had only two competitors which meant straight to the final. Again this is an ambiguous 'blessing' as fighters put in months of hard training expecting the chance to prove themselves on the day. However, this was to be Toyah's last venture onto the tatami as a novice so she was told to make the most of the situation! Toyah's opponent was Lucy Bowsie from Mountain Ash, and as a yellow belt was obviously not as experienced as Toyah but was not to be underestimated. Although being considerably lighter, Lucy put up a good fight and proved to be strong at the outset. Into the 2nd minute Toyah started to put the pressure on, building up the combinations, a couple of accidental fouls by Lucy didn't shake Toyah's focus and she dominated to the end, Lucy having to skirt round the edge of the mat to stay in the area. At the first hantei 3 judges awarded the fight to Toyah, 1 gave draw and Toyah was declared winner. A fitting end to Toyah's novice career, in with the big girls next time......!
	Welsh Regional Knockdown 8 June 2002 Sempai Malcolm Scott (above, right), in the men's middleweight regional section, fought magnificently through the first two rounds, securing an ippon in the first round and managed to score a wazari on Mark Goodwin from Rhonda with a sweep and follow-up. In the final against Wai Cheung it was very close, the fight went to 6 minutes, with Wai narrowly getting the judges decision, putting Malcolm into 2nd place. Sempai Toyah Chandler (above, left) had a more frustrating start, first in learning that her category ( women's novice heavyweight) had only two total competitors, which then in turn meant an incredibly long wait as the finals were all held at the end of the day. Into the final, the fight lasted only 9 seconds, Toyah flooring her Dunmow opponent with a strong mae-geri. Toyah was 'robbed' of the fastest knock-out trophy by the complication that her opponent twisted her knee on the way down, and although the judges scored an ippon for the knockdown, the officials decided not to award the trophy. However, Toyah was able to lift her winners trophy at the end of the day.

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