14 July 2009

Rachel Newey, the 16-year-old Be Number 1 karate exponent with a potentially glittering future, struck gold at the weekend when she won the Junior Female Kata category at the prestigious WKF World Youth Cup at Chalkida in Greece.

With 21 entries in the category (for competitors aged 16 and 17), Rachel was one of those fortunate enough to receive a bye into the second round. There, doing Bassai Dai, she easily disposed of her Korean opponent by a 3-0 margin before performing a strong Chatanyara Kushanku against Morena Vulpis, a talented Italian, to reach the last four.

The semi-finals promised to be altogether more challenging, for the Briton was facing Maria Kioussis, a highly accomplished American with realistic gold medal aspirations of her own. Both did Annan, but Rachel swept aside her opponent in exhilarating fashion to win 3-0.

In the final, against Caroline Schwarzinger of Austria, Rachel opted to lead off with Unshu while her adversary chose Chatanyara. With a precise technique supported by plenty of power, Rachel sauntered to a stunning 5-0 success, much to the appreciation of the thronged arena.

And so many congratulations to Rachel, who was the only British entrant at the meeting, on a success that bodes especially well for the future. The next goal for the 16-year-old, under the tutelage of her coach Sat Sehra and national Kata coach Jonathan Mottram, is to try and gain selection for the forthcoming WKF World Championships, which take place in Morocco in November.