Martial arts: Lanarkshire kids head to the European Championships

Dec 24 2009 by Carla Callaghan

FOUR members of Lanarkshire’s Yamakai Karate Club are heading to the European Championships in Turkey in February.

Greg MaCaulay, Emma Boyle, Robert McEwan and Marc MaCaulay will take part in the European Karate Federation Junior and Cadet competition in Izmir, Turkey, from February 5-7.

All four successfully came through the elimination process, winning a number of matches against several of the top competitors in Scotland.

The students have worked extremely hard to reach this level, winning a total of 21 gold medal awards at various events.

Greg is currently the Scottish International Open champion, and Robert holds the British Cadet Male Under-70k title, as well as taking second place at the Scottish Karate Championships.

Emma is a former Scottish and British champion and won silver at this year’s Scottish Championships and a bronze at the Belgian International Open in November.

Marc is a current Commonwealth Karate Champion, winning his title at last year’s event in Edinburgh. He also took silver at this year’s Scottish Championships.

Three of the group have previous experience at this level.

Emma will be attending her fourth major event, having already competed at two European Championships and a World Championships.

Greg will make his second appearance at European level, having competed in France earlier this year. He also reached the second round of the World Championships in Morocco.

This will be a first at the European Championships for Robert and Marc, although Marc was also selected for the World Championships in Morocco.

Now that the group have qualified the club are looking for sponsorship to help them get there.

Club coach Jim Ross said: “It’s a fantastic achievement for both the association and the four individuals selected but it has to be paid for.

“Unfortunately, karate does not attract big-money sponsorship. The full cost has to be found by the Association, and of course this time it’s for four people.

“We recently raised over £2000 to send both Greg and Marc to Morocco and occasionally they get some funding from the sport’s governing body, but not always.”

Jim added: “We are organising a sponsored fight night in late January along with a couple of bag-packing sessions so hopefully we shouldn’t be too far away. But if anyone out there is interested in helping out it would be gratefully accepted.”

Yamakai meet at Uddingston Community Hall on Mondays and Thursdays from 6pm-8pm, and at Chapelton Community Hall on Wednesdays from 7pm-8pm (under-13 and beginners) and 8pm-9.15pm (13-plus); and Saturday from 11-12pm and 12pm-1pm for the same age groups.

Anybody interested in sponsoring the club should call Jim Ross on 01698 421790. More information on the club is available by visiting: www.yamakai.co.uk.