MARTIAL artists from York Kenshinkan Karate Club have returned from a British tournament with six medals between them, writes Peter Martini.

Six members of the Canon Lee School-based club competed in the JKA (Japan Karate Association) Four Nations Cup in London, featuring JKA-affiliated fighters from the home nations.

And between them they claimed three first, one second and two third places.

Fifteen-year-olds Alistair Bevan and Jerome Barlow were first and third in the 12 to 15-year-old brown and black belt kumite, and Aron Blair, 17, won the same event in the 16 to 18-year-old age group.

Sam Hudson, 13, won the 13 to 15-year-old junior kumite category, and Andy McLements, 36, came third in the male 18-and-over junior kumite, and second in the male 18-and-over junior kata.

A sixth club member, Paula Tate, a bronze medal winner in the national championships in the summer, was disqualified in the senior female kumite.

Junior events are for those below brown belt, and kumite means fighting, while kata is the form element of karate.

Barlow, Bevan and Blair are already JKA England team members, with Barlow a national champion at his age level and a top-eight finisher in the European Championships in Paris this summer. The trio are beginning to step up training in preparation for the 2014 JKA World Championships in Tokyo.

For more information about York Kenshinkan Karate Club, phone chief instructor Ian Tate on 07946 472805 or visit www.yorkkarateclub.com