Grimsby trio take on India's karate kings

FROM the Grimby-Cleethorpes border to the Indo-Pakistani border...

A three-strong team of students from the Konjaku Shin National School of Karate have returned from India where they represented the UK in a 700-strong tournament.

There they competed in the Tri Nations International Karate Tournament against some of the best karate kings of Nepal and the whole of India.

And as well as bringing back trophies and medals, they also returned with £500 for Cancer Research, which was raised through sponsorship in memory of Konjaku Shin student and friend Pete Waller, 54, who died from the disease last year.

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Lea Downey, 39, a 3rd dan, was best friends with Dave. He also lost his aunty, Katrine Blackmoore, and uncle, Willy Downey, to cancer in the same year.

He said: "He might have been a purple snake in karate, but he was a black belt in fighting cancer. He put up such a fight against the disease and fought it until the end. It means a lot to me that I was able to give something back to the charity that helped Dave and my aunty and uncle."

Lea, a former world champion and 17-time gold medalist, went with fellow students Terry Jagger, 39, 1st dan and Iain Legg, 41, a 2nd dan.

Under the watchful eyes of 7th dan sensei Dave Kershaw and 5th dan sensei Charles Hannah, each competed individually.

Iain came second and Terry came fourth in the kumite (free fighting) while Lea came third in the kata (fixed forms).

As well as competing, the eight-day trip to Amritras – one of the most poverty stricken places in the country – also saw them teach karate in schools and universities and to packed-full auditoriums and they went to the Wagah border on the India-Pakistan border.

The trip was an experience they will not forget.

Iain said: "It was quite an experience, the heat was immense and the people treated us all like kings. They were so hospitable and couldn't do enough for us. Even though some of them have nothing, they would be willing to give us anything."

For Terry, a father, it was seeing poverty-struck children that was the hardest for him.

He said: "It was the children that did it for me. Seeing them like that I couldn't help but feel for them and yet despite how they were living, they were willing to give us everything. There was total respect from them."

And although none came back with a gold, in the words of the Japanese, "kore wa jinseida" or "that's life" according to the students.

Lea added: "We all did really well considering what we were up against. Like our sensei says, "even if you go out there and lose you have taken part.' We all feel a huge sense of achievement."

See your Telegraph soon for photographs of the tournament.

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