Pat Baker Bram Roberts Emma Baker Greg Matthews Chris Booton
Dan Hayes Luciano Celozzi Becky Hayes Kate Bishop Cathy Booton
Ten members of Hereford's Combat Academy led by coaches Dave Coles and Simon Small travelled to Wales to compete in the National Ju Jutsu Kumite Council's Welsh Open championships.
The Academy had a record performance which included a couple of family successes.
Brother and sister duo, Dan and Becky Hayes collected a family double, taking gold medals in their respective categories. Competing in the girls -30kg section Becky a red belt, defeated all her opponents including a brown belt, scoring with a combination of striking and some exceptional grappling techniques.
Older brother Dan, a black-belt in karate and although an accomplished striker, it was his throwing and ground-fighting skills that were most prevalent as he stormed his way to the final of the boys -40kg category. In the final Dan defeated a Ju Jutsu black belt in order to take the gold medal.
A second family double came from the Baker family, with Patrick demonstrating all round techniques and taking silver in the Mens -95Kg division, whilst daughter Emma secured the bronze in the girls -50Kg.
The academy's third family double was again another father and daughter combination and this time came from the Booton family.
Cathy Booton had some hard fights on her way to the bronze medal in the girls -45 kg category losing by only 1 point to a purple belt in the semi-final.
Competing in his first ever Ju-Jutsu event Cathy's dad Chris, took the gold medal in the mens open category after a couple of good wins including a victory over a purple belt in the final.
Another fighter in his first event, Greg Matthews competed in the under 95 kg category, showing good skills in both the striking and grappling ranges Greg collected a hard earned bronze medal.
A regular medallist at club level events Luciano Cellozi gave an outstanding performance in the boys -30kg category to collect his first medal in an area event. After three convincing wins Luciano faced a Brown Belt in the final losing by only 1 point to collect a well deserved Silver medal.
Bram Roberts also took his first medal at an area event and also did it in style. Fighting in the mens -86kg division Bram showed good skill with all techniques but in particular with his striking, securing him a hard earned silver medal.
The 2003 National champion in the girls -35kg category, Kate Bishop made her first appearance in the under 40 kilo category, and despite being the lowest grade Kate battled her way through 4 fights on the way to a hard earned silver medal.
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