SCOTLAND European Championships – Croatia – 2009
View all articles

Imperial Scotland Students left for the Europeans on 23rd & 24th May after a long haul journey we eventually made it into Pula airport.
We got on board the coach which took us straight to our hotel in Umag The Sol Auruora Hotel. 

The Imperial Scotland Team were:  Juniors – Brad Robertson & Siobhan Crawford.
Seniors – Zak Divine, Peter Scott and Desmond Harkin.

Team Scotland also consisted of students from the UTF Master Browns Group.

The weigh in was scheduled for Monday the 25th May at 4pm, so by the time weigh in came all competitors were very hungry, having not eaten for the whole day just to make sure there weight was met.

Scotland got called in first which was a real surprise as we are normally last.  All the competitors successfully made there weights, which was relief all round.

The Individual events started on Tuesday the 26th May,  the competition started at 9am.  All individual patterns were called first, Juniors were first.  Brad & Siobhan both got through there first rounds but got knocked out in the quarter finals.

Before the sparring events they decided to change the schedule and do junior power and special technique.
Siobhan done amazingly well and went all the way to compete against a Croatian Girl they were both fighting for Gold, They both broke turning kick, then side kick then it came to knife hand strike, Siobhan was first and broke the board clean,  the Croation girl was next but unfortunately she did not break, which then made Siobhan Champion.

Brad also took part in the special technique and just missed the height on the qualifying round for the flying high kick.
Peter and Des also took part in special and power but did not make the qualifier for the special.  Peter made it through to the power qualifier but just missed out on a medal and came 5th place.

Junior sparring started and Siobhan was up against a girl from Slovenia,  they battled it out for 2 minute rounds in which Siobhan fought very hard but the decision finally went to Slovenia.

Brad was into the semi finals once again against slovenia,  Brad fought well and hard but just about 30 seconds before the end of the fight Brad got a bad injury which took him to the floor, the Slovenian boy had kicked him in the knee in which he was having difficulty standing up,  he knew he only had 30 seconds to go so Brad got the strength from I don’t know where and got up and finished the fight, in which Brad won which took him into the finals.
Fortunately the finals were scheduled for Friday so Brad could rest his knee.
Peter , Zak and Des were all knocked out from there first individual rounds but the competiton was very tough indeed.

The Team events were scheduled for Wednesday,  the team consist of 5 or 6 team members.
Scotland had 6 adult male team members who were- Peter Scott, Zak Divine & Desmond Harkin and Richard, Alan and Nick from the UTF.
The male team were up against Italy for team patterns – the designated pattern was Choong-Moo and Choice Kwang-Gae.
Italy got up first to do the designated, then it was Scotland, then Italy back on again to do there Choice pattern Gae-Baek, then Scotland on to do Kwang-Gae.
It was very intense waiting on the results, then the teams marched on and the jury president stood up and waved his hand up towards Scotland, they had beaten Italy.  Which took them into the finals.

Team sparring, the male team once again were drawn with Italy.  First up was Nick for Scotland.  After 2 minutes the bout went to Scotland.  Then it was Richard, once again another bout to Scotland 2-0  Scotland just needed to win another fight to win the round. Net up Peter,  close fight but it went to Scotland again- 3-0 for Scotland this took team Scotland into the semi finals.
Semi finals they had to fight against the Netherlands.  I think almost every dutch male fighter was over 6 foot tall.  Quite scary really.
Unfortunately the battle ended there for Scotland 3-0 to the Netherlands.

Finals day – Individuals – Brad Robertson -52kg sparring.  The only Imperial Scotland student to reach the individual finals.
It was Scotland v England, after two 2 minute rounds the decision was a draw so they had to battle it out again for another minute.  But this round Brads knee collapsed again, which ended up costing him the fight, but he got up and finished it to the end, what a warrior.

The ladies Scottish team were in the finals for the patterns against England.   It was a very close decision but Scotland came through and won Gold.

Also the ladies team won Bronze for Sparring, Silver for Special and silver for destruction.   Well done ladies.

This competition was a very good one for Scotland.

Siobhan Crawford – Gold
Brad Robertson – Silver

Peter Scott – Team Gold, Silver, x2 Bronzes
Zak Divine – Team Gold, Silver x2 Bronzes
Desmond Harkin – Team Gold, Silver x2 Bronzes.

Well done to all competitors at this event, it was another good European championships.  See everyone in 2011 for the next Europeans in Cork Ireland.

Written by: Catherine Divine - 29th June 2009

Sorry, but you need to login to your account to add feedback.

Login now, or if you are not a member then apply to join here