WUMA WORLD CUP REPORT

The World United Martial Arts Association hosted the WUMA World Cup Championships in Cheltenham on the 15h and 16th of October, which attracted competitors from Nepal, Germany, Poland, England, Scotland, Italy and other European countries.

The championships was split over two days with all juniors under 16 yrs taking part on the Saturday and adults 16 yrs plus on the Sunday.  The championships combined many formats for Chinese, Korean and Japanese practitioners and this was clearly seen in the patterns divisions, which also catered for musical, weapons and team events!  Also on the agenda over the two days was point sparring, cont-sparring, full contact and grappling!

Our Juniors under 16 years headed to the championships on Friday evening under the watchful eye of Mrs Ceclia Gough, as both our Juniors were competing on the Saturday.  Miss Kara Gough and AIMAA Panther Master Adam Walker did an outstanding job at the championships on the Saturday, with both winning World titles!

Miss Kara Gough took the World title in patterns, Silver in cont-sparring and Bronze in point sparring.  Little Adam, who is only 5 yrs old took the WUMA World title in patterns and point-sparring! What a fantastic achievement for both students and a truly wonderful one for the little panther who won many of the hearts of the judges and competitors at the event!

Master Kirkwood and the squad joined these members on the Saturday evening in Cheltenham, as the adults were competing on the Sunday. The squad consisted of Master Kirkwood, John Kirkwood Jnr, Cecilia Gough, Kirsty Gough, Mark Russell, Chris Hamilton, Cameron Dean, Rachel Miller, Tammy Sutherland, Joe Steel and Scott Ritchie.  Also attending was Mrs Kirkwood and Mrs Sutherland.

The Adults took part in point sparring, cont-sparring, Korean patterns and team patterns. Our first student up was Rachel Miller in her point division, quickly followed by our individual students in the Korean patterns.  Rachel fought hard against her opponent but ran out of time to gain that crucial point in the last seconds to take Gold. Although disappointed she picked herself up and got down to more work within the team event.

The standard was high within the pattern divisions and there was many individuals competing from various countries on the floor. However,  there was one major fault within the pattern section for everyone, which was the mats as they had not been tapped down.  This resulted on the mats giving way on many occasions and in some causing students to be down marked because they slipped or stepped back! Although everyone tried to deal with the mats as best the could on many occasions it effected many competitors not only from A.I.M.A.A Scotland but from other associations.

Our winner in this section was Miss Kirsty Gough who had to fight off for 2nd place in this division against opponents from Mr Lamberts school of TKD. After the individual patterns, we quickly moved onto the team events, as well as our individual students who were competing still on surrounding mats in point sparring.

Mrs Gough was such one squad member, as we found ourselves torn between watching and supporting her and watching our team on the floor within the pattern section.  Mrs Gough did an outstanding job and was just piped to the post for 1st place, taking a 2nd in her ladies point sparring section.  Our team, which consisted of Cameron Dean, Tammy Sutherland and Rachel Miller, did a fantastic job and took the Gold and Title in their division, much to the joy of the squad and Master Kirkwood.

Our novice competitors Mr Chris Hamilton and Mr Joe Steel took to the floor in their division and had pretty good fights, especially since both were competing for the first time ever! Both boys fought hard and missed out on the points, however fought for 3rd and 4th place, with Joe taking a 3rd place and Chris taking a 4th place certificate.

As the afternoon raced on we had John Kirkwood Jnr take to the floor in his points division, as well as Kirsty and Mark.  Mr Kirkwood Jnr won his first fight against a Muay Thai competitor from Poland, who was doing some pretty crazy stuff on the floor, such as flips and sweeps! However, Mr Kirkwood was to fast and out manoeuvred many of these moves and counter scored each time!

His final fight was thrilling and hard going against Mr Ricky Hopkins. Both fighters took it to a new level, however young Ricky out manoeuvred Mr Kirkwood and scored those valuable scores. Both boys did a fantastic job and it was great to see such good clean fights on the floor!

Kirsty and Mark were soon on the floor in their own divisions, and both fighters had some hard first fights! Kirsty and Mark both made it through to the final fights and both got those valuable scores resulting in them both taking World titles! 

Both fighters also automatically got entered into the Grand Championship fight off (all winners from the point divisions) which saw young Kirsty take to the floor first and battle her way through to the final fight and taking not only the "GRAND CHAMPION" title, but a massive £250 prize money! much to the delight of the squad and her family.

Mark had a really hard division in his "Grand Championship" fight off! Although he took the fight to the other fighter he was beaten by a point in the last seconds of the fight! 

The Grand Championships prize money for the adult males was £500 and a joyous victory was made by a young fighter from the "Team Terror" squad in England. 

Our last fighter up in the points was Scott Ritchie who had some great fights as well as threw out some great techniques. Scott found himself in with men rather than boys, and although only 17 yrs old dealt with them man to man!  Scott worked hard and won third place in his points division.

Our students also competed in the cont-sparring divisions which was staged in the professional ring in the event. Both Mark and Joe fought in the ring and both boys did an outstanding job against their opponents. Mark took Gold and the title, whilst Joe took  a second place in his novice division.

As the day grew to a close we found ourselves waiting for our last competitors to compete! these where Master Kirkwood and Mark Russell, both were anxious to get on and fight!

Master Kirkwood who had entered the +35 division and it was a great fight to watch, with clean action, great techniques and above all true martial art spirit! The final fight was 2 x 2 minute rounds and it was hard going for these old timers! but a joy to watch. A.I.M.A.A Scotland was elated when their Master won the fight and took the title.   Young Mark was the last fight of the day within the boxing ring for his cont-sparring division.  His fight also was 2 x 2 min rounds and he showed great skill in the ring and also took the title for Scotland!

In all our squad was fantastic, they have worked hard in class and at additional squad training to up their speed, techniques and stamina and it not only shows when competing, but also shows in the friendships and bond they have as a squad of young martial artists. 

Everyone is now working hard to achieve more within the remaining months of this year, and we look forward to the many adventures that lie ahead for us all in 2012!

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