Taking place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the 9th World Karate Championship saw a team of 18 skilled competitors take to the world stage this September to represent their country including Swanscombe’s own Karate Kids.
In one of our previous magazines, we shared Kieran’s fundraiser which was aiming to take him to the World Karate Championship originally set to take place in Poland in July, however, COVID changed the destination and date entirely.
What’s exciting is that not only did Kieran manage to participate in the championship, but he got to do it alongside his little sister Nevaeh, who received her England badge during the summer.
Kieran, 18, put in an exceptional performance, winning a World Bronze medal in the Male 15 years and above Adapted Kata for Learning Disabilities.
Nevaeh, 10, also excelled coming in 4th in the World for Kata in the 10-year-old girls’ category and winning a World Bronze medal in Kumite for 10-year-old girls 145cm and under.
A squad of 18 competitors attended the competition, winning 8 medals overall which was a brilliant result considering they haven’t competed at such a high level for almost two years.
We caught up with Helen Hawkes, mother to Kieran and Nevaeh, who gave us an insight to the tournament and the impact of COVID-19 which saw the tournament move destinations from Poland to Romania.
Helen told us: “COVID has been such an awful time for everyone and it put everything on hold for us like many others. Our Karate club North Kent Martial Arts (NKMA) closed just like everything else did but our Sensei Saj De Silva didn’t let that stop him so he took all the lessons to Zoom, then when the restrictions started to relax, we trained outside in the local parks and then eventually we got back into our dojo.
“After such a long wait Kieran finally got his dream and he competed in the Adapted Kata category for male 15 years and over with learning disabilities in which he won a Bronze medal. He performed his kata brilliantly and to the absolute best of his abilities, and in my eyes, he is a winner.
“He worked so hard during the lockdown and every day in the lead up to the Championship to earn that Bronze medal and become 3rd in the World.
“Nevaeh was selected in June to also represent England; she is the youngest on the team and when she was told she had been selected she was so happy because she wanted to be like her brother and fly the flag for England.
“When she found out she came away with a bronze medal she was in tears as she didn’t believe it would happen.
“In the lead up to the championship they both trained 6 days a week and worked hard for what they wanted and all that work and training paid off.
“Sensei Saj De Silva has over 30 years’ experience within martial arts and during this period he has regularly produced students who medal at local, European and World Karate tournaments and having him teaching my children and myself is just fantastic and now I can say he helped them become medallists.
“There are no words to describe how myself, their dad and their other sister feel right now, except we are so proud of them and so are the whole family.”
The team returned home safely on 27th September, and at the end of the Championship England finished 12th in the world, which was an amazing achievement that everyone involved with should be incredibly proud of!