Members of Hereford's Combat Academy travelled to Worcester to compete in the British Open Ju-Jutsu Kumite championships and returned with 6 National Champions and 2 bronze medallists.
First to fight for the academy was 7 year old Olly Bohn. Competing in the under 26kg white - green belt category Olly gave an outstanding performance scoring with head kicks, throws and some very competent ground-fighting en-route to the final. In the final Olly faced a very good green belt, but he was not overawed by his higher graded opponent and opened the scoring with a double-leg take-down for 3 points. Olly was then caught in a hold but escaped and immediately secured a 3 point hold-down. At the restart the fight went to the floor and Olly's opponent made the mistake of turning his back and Olly sunk in the hooks to score a further 2 points. Time was called and Olly Bohn became the 2004 National Champion.
Luciano Celozzi was next to represent The Academy, competing in the under 35kg, white - green belt category. Having just moved up from the under 30kg category Luc was one of the lightest and smallest in this category of 16 fighters. Luc had three tough fights en-route to the semi-final.
In the fight for the Bronze medal Luc faced a Green belt. After an initial trade of punching techniques Luc took a 2 - 1 lead, the fight then went to the ground and Luc secured a hold to take the score to 5 - 1 and secure the National Bronze medal.
Becky Hayes competed in the under 30kg white - green belt category and secured several good wins en-route to the final. Despite going 3 - 0 down to a take-down early on in the fight, Becky kept the fight standing picking off her opponent with a variety of punching and kicking techniques to take a 5-3 lead. The fight then went to the ground and Becky added another 3 points via a hold-down to record an 8 - 3 win, and take the National Title.
The 2003 British champion at under 35kg, Kate Bishop was looking to take the National Title in the under 40kg white - green belt category. Kate dominated all of her opponent's en-route to the final scoring with punches, head kicks, throws and some excellent ground-fighting skills to retain her National title.
Daniel Hayes competed in the under 45kg white - green belt category. In his opening fight Dan secured victory with a very good display of grappling skills, taking his opponent down with ease and securing points with two separate hold-downs. In his second fight Dan opened the scoring with a side-kick but then again tested his grappling skills taking the fight to the ground and scoring points with two hold-downs and hooks to secure a 9 - 0 victory. In the final Dan again dominated his opponent opening the scoring with a 3 point rear-counter throw and pressuring his opponent throughout the fight to take the National Title.
Emma Baker faced an orange belt in the final of the under 50kg white - green belt category. Emma took her opponent to the ground securing guard. She then swept and mounted her opponent to take a 3 - 0 lead. On the re-start she scored a further point with a kick and another point with a counter to her opponents attempted kick with a fast punch.
Again the fight went to the ground and Emma swept her opponent with a double ankle grab sweep. Time was called and Emma took the fifth Junior National Title for The Combat Academy.
Senior Academy fighter Greg Matthews competed in the under 100kg category and displayed excellent ground-fighting skills, the best of which was an arm-bar attempt to omoplata sweep into mount.
Bram Roberts had four fights en-route to a Bronze medal in the under 90kg category. One of Bram's hardest fights was against a very flashy Capoeira exponent, after trailing 0 - 4 to a variety of fast punches and kicks, Bram then employed the tactic of taking the fight to the ground where he twice strangled his opponent into submission to secure a 10 - 4 victory.
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