Home success in biggest karate event for 24 years

The event held at North Bridge Leisure Centre was a big success for the host Bushido Ryu Association club, who received the trophy for winning the most medals.

The Championships was a fund raiser for cancer research and Michael Handley, father of club chief Matthew Handley, handed over the trophy.

Handley senior has himself beaten cancer after surgery.

Halifax won 46 medals in total; eight golds, 17 silvers and 21 bronzes.

Matthew Handley said: “This was the first time karate has been in Halifax on this scale since 1994.

“It was a proud moment to see so many good teams, coaches and athletes come to Halifax.

“The whole idea of the competition was to raise money for cancer research and bring karate back to Halifax.

“It is great that the cup stayed in Halifax for the first year.”

Handley said he had been “overwhelmed” by the support for the event with some of the biggest names in British karate in attendance.

They included English Karate Federation national coach and World Karate Federation world champion Paul Newby and Scotland national coach David Coulter.

He thanked all the officials and the club members who had helped to run the event.

There was no rest for Handley, who was heading to Croatia this week for the WKF Youth League Championships, in which world ranking points were up for grabs.