Five Nations Kendo Tournament Report & Results
A report by Dipak Choudhury
(A breakdown of the team and individual results can be found at the end of this report).
The weekend 5-7th March 2010, the British team travelled to Stockholm, Sweden to participate in the annual 5 Nations International competition. This team were joined by the National Teams of Finland, Germany, Switzerland, and of course the hosts, Sweden. This friendly competition sees the participating nations engage in a weekend of friendly round-robin matches, where each team fights each of the other four teams. This year saw a slight change in the structure of the event, with the individual knock-out competitions following the team events.
With the European championships exactly 1 month away, the other participating Nations saw fit to test their 1st team line ups, in preparation for the European Championships in Budapest. As a result the tournament featured some very high-calibre players in attendance. Regardless of the results and final outcomes, all players gave their best to each shiai which stimulated an intense atmosphere, producing some high quality and exciting matches. Despite this being a friendly event, all the teams involved took the matches deadly seriously. However, with over half the regular, experienced members of the British Squad in Japan, training and developing their skills in preparation for the European Championships, a new team was selected, in order to look at potential, future squad members. Has such four members of this Men’s team, were given their chance to represent their country, for the first time.
The event started pretty badly for all of us, the moment we arrived in Sweden, as British Airways decided they couldn’t be bothered to send our shinai to Stockholm. As such we could not really participate in the jigeiko before the competition, and ended up borrowing spare shinai, from some very generous Swedes the following morning, so we could actually compete in the event. Needless to say, a letter of complaint is already on its way to British Airways HQ.
This year’s British Ladies Team were, unfortunately, only able to send two members, Geraldina Mattson (4th Dan, Mumeishi Dojo) and Emily Knight (1st Dan, UCL dojo). In order to be eligible to compete in the 5-person team event, a 3rd team member, Sarah Steiner, was recruited from the Swiss.  But even with 3 players, the team was disadvantaged, as in each match, two players would have to fight twice.
The ladies team event kicked off with the team taking on Sweden, and Emily Knight taking two notable wins against the Swedes, and draws from Geraldina and Sarah, to allow the team to win the first match by a clear margin.
The second match against the Finnish team, saw some tough and closely contested matches, and despite some valiant draws from Sarah and Emily, the team were not able to take victories.
The third and final match, against Germany again saw the ladies in some very close matches, with further draws from Emily and Sarah, but ultimately, the ladies were unable to see off the German team. As such, the Ladies team event ended, with our GB Ladies finishing 3rd out of 4 teams. This achievement is remarkable, when considering the team was down two players every match, effectively doubling the amount of matches each team member had to fight, against some of the strongest and most experienced female kendoka in Europe.
Sadly, despite a hard-fought match Gel was unable to push through the 1st round of the individual event. Emily, who had received a bye straight into the 2nd round faced a tough Finnish opponent, and despite a great, spirited fight, was unable to progress to the 3rd round.
The Men’s team comprised of Sarfraz Aziz (1st Dan, Mumeishi Dojo), Lee Dale (1st Dan, UKKC) Dipak Choudhury (2ND Dan, Tora Dojo), Sam Wilkin (3rd Dan, Oxford University Dojo) and were led by experienced, regular team member, Jon Fitzgerald (4th Dan, Tora Dojo).  This year’s team hoped to better the last year’s (who finished 5th place), and show the other nations the spirit of British Kendo.
The first match had us drawn against Germany, one of the strongest teams in the Competition, and the eventual winners of this year’s 5 Nations. Unfortunately, Senpo and Jiho, whilst putting up a strong and spirited fight, fell to the experience of the German opening positions. However, the British Chuken managed to retake the initiative, with a notable 2-0 win against the more experienced German Chuken. Unfortunately, Fukusho managed to go a point down in the closing seconds of his match, after a closely contested fight. Our taisho put up a strong fight against the very experienced Jodan player and Captain of the German Team, drawing his match.
The Second match saw us take on the Swedish, another experienced team. Once again Senpo and Jiho fell to their more experienced Swedish counterparts, but the chuken managed to slow the Swedish onslaught with a draw. Fukusho also held off his counterpart with a draw. The British taisho went head-to-head with the Swedish captain, winning the first point , but was unable to hold the advantage, despite putting up a strong fight, and this very close match ended with a 1-1 draw.
Our third match saw us drawn against the Finnish team. Senpo and Jiho, were unable to find the technique to crack the defence of the Swedish vanguard, and the Swedish Senpo and Jiho took the wins in some very close and spirited matches . But Chuken managed to force a 1-0 win against his counterpart in a highly spirited match, and Fukusho and Taisho managed to hold their own against the Finnish Fukusho and Taisho, 0-0.
Our last match was against the Swiss National Team, led by Oscar Kimura, 6th Dan and comprising a team of very experienced and highly ranked players. Despite a strong fighting and team spirit we were not able take any victories in these matches.
In the Individual event, despite some very close calls, none of the men were able to progress beyond the 1st round, except Lee Dale, whose opponent did not appear in the 1st round and thus also received a bye straight to the 2nd round. Unfortunately he was not able to overcome the experienced, Jodan player from Finland, to progress to the 3rd round.
This young team, for most of us in our first appearance with the national team, and up against some of the strongest and most experienced kendoka in Europe, demonstrated a high technical ability, and fought with a spirit and determination that matched, or in some cases, even exceeded other national teams. Alas, the result was not as we had wished, finishing 5th Place overall, equalling last year’s performance, but this event gave the coach and manager the opportunity to look at some new prospects for the future. Many other national team members, coaches and referee’s commented on the fantastic team spirit that this team showed, credit to Jon Fitzgerald for bringing us together under his strong leadership.
Credit and thanks to the Swedish organisers for arranging a fantastic event and providing us shinai in our time of need!
Special thanks to Dr. Takashi Mano-sensei, National Squad Coach, for his instruction, advice and support of our team, and Dr. Sean Starr-Sensei, National Squad Manager, for his time and effort in organising out participation in this event, and for his unfailing support.
Results
GB vs Germany
- Aziz 0-M kumpt
- Dale 0-mm lorenz
- Chouldary mm-0 stankivic
- Wilkin 0-I ulmer
- Fitzgerald 0-x-0 herr
Sweden vs GB
- wahlberg m-0 aziz
- sato km-0 dale
- hamilton 0-x-0 choudhury
- wahlberg 0-x-0 wilkin
- johensson d-x-k fitzgerald
Finland vs GB
- seppangen mm-0 dale
- vikberg mm-I aziz
- korhongn 0-m fitzgerald
- nissingn 0-x-0 choudhury
- jokininen 0-x-0 wilkin
Switzerland vs GB
- rothacher mm-m dale
- schoch mm-m aziz
- ghavam kk-0 fitzgerald
- krobl mm-0 choudhury
- kimura KK-0 WILKIN
Sweden vs GB
- Knight k-0 nilsson
- sarah x ahlstam
- Mattsson x komaki
- emily mm-0 nordwall
- Mattsson x persson
Finland
- sarah m-k pipponen
- Knight x paala
- sarah x vuonnen
- Mattsson 0-k raitinen
- Knight 0-kk inkenin
Germany
- Mattsson 0-k fadai
- sarah x seorfied
- Mattsson 0-mk kumpf
- Knight x rolurbein
- sarah 0-kk yokoo
Individuals
- wilkin 0- E- m vikberg
- schulcke k-0 choudhury
- sato mm-0 aziz
- vikberg m-0 dale
- krobl mm-k fitzgerald
Dr S Starr
GB kendo Manager
www.kendo.org.uk/kendo/kendo-squad/
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Posted: March 16th, 2010 under Kendo.
Tags: Five Nations, Kendo, Taikai