Medals galore for Lucas in Belfast and Dundee

STRABANE’S ‘Karate Kid’, Lewis O’Donnell enjoyed plenty of success during what was a busy Bank Holiday weekend with competitions in Belfast and Dundee.

The first competition of his double-header weekend took place in Belfast at the NI Open Karate Championships.

Lucas was the only boy in his U14 Brown/Black Kata so it was amalgated with another kata category and he instead competed in the Age 13-Under 18 Brown/Black belt kata. Experience and hard-work over-ruled age and it was Lucas who won the gold medal.

Due to having to catch a flight to Scotland later that evening, Lucas didn’t know if he’d get competing in kumite but thankfully the competition was running ahead of schedule and he got to take part.

He had a total of four fights against a different range of competitors. He won his first fight 4-0, then it was a 5-0 scoreline for the quarter-final fight securing him a place in the semi-finals.

Despite a very rough and physical fight Lucas came out on top eventually winning the fight 2-0 when his opponent was disqualified for three warnings. So next up was the final where he had a shaky start going 2-0 down but he very quickly regained composure and scored what looked liked it was going to be a cracking ippon with a head kick to even the score – however Lucas’ opponent was injured with the kick and deemed unfit to continue by the medics so it was a straight disqualification for Lucas, resulting in a silver medal in this category.

After his exertions in Belfast, Lucas turned his attentions to the WUKF Scottish Open Karate Championships in Dundee. First thing Lucas and his two North West Shotokan Karate Club teammates Zara and Caitlin took part in the team kata event where they competed against competitors from 16 right through 35 years old – with both Lucas and Zara only being 13 their main aim was to do their best, get warmed up for their individuals and hope they didn’t finish last. And that’s exactly what they did.

Next he moved on to Age 13-14 Brown/Black Belt Individual Kata – Lucas’ first proper time competing in this category so he went into it with no real expectations but knew he was ready for it. He had his two katas prepped to a tee – but after two rounds he was tied for third place with two other boys and he hadn’t planned for a third kata but just like he did when he was in the same position at the European’s he went out and surprised everyone with a fantastic kata, securing the bronze medal.

Then it was time for his favourite part – Kumite. Firstly he competed in the Age 13-14 Ippon category where he got the win in his first fight within 10 seconds. Moving on to the quarter final fight – where Lucas received a head injury and his opponent was disqualified. He was through to the semi-finals but the medic advised he wasn’t fit to continue the fight so he had to forfeit on medical grounds – getting himself his second bronze.

Thankfully there was over an hour between his Ippon and Sanbon category – giving him enough time to eat, relax and get a bit of movement in to be sure he was OK after the injury in the Ippon category.

He was the last fight of the first round so patiently sat by the side of the Tatami watching every fight while he worked out whether or not he would go ahead with the next category. And when the time came not only did he decide to take part, he went on to fight his way through four fights and secured himself the gold medal.

Unfortunately in the final of his Sanbon category Lucas took another knock to the head and this time the medics decided Lucas’ competition was over and he wouldn’t be allowed to compete in his team rotation fight so it was over to his two Scottish teammates brothers Max and Rory from SKA to attempt to win the fight by six clear points as they’d only two fighters. Unfortunately for the two boys they fought unreal against a team of three fighters winning the fight with a score of 5-3 however due to only two fighters participating rather than the required three the boys were disqualified. However they still managed the bronze medal in this category too.