Bedford Modern School student Tosan Awani won gold for England at the Japan Karate Association (JKA) European Championships in Bochum, Germany, as part of the Junior Kumite Team.
More than 30 countries took part in the event that Tosan and his team mates have been training for all year. On the second day of the competition the Junior Kumite Team sailed through the first rounds and the semi-finals. Year 7 student, Tosan, who took the first round in each fight, set the bar for his team mates.
In the final the team faced a fierce competitor from Serbia but with straight wins they took the gold medal for England making them the 2015 European Champions.
Tosan, aged 12, trains twice weekly with the Stevenage JKA Karate Club and every other week with the England squad in London. After starting Karate at just four years of age, Tosan attended his training consistently and his interest and passion for the sport grew weekly. Tosan started as a white belt but after going through the grading process he achieved a 1st Dan black belt in December 2009, aged nine.
Tosan, who joined the England squad when he was ten, said: “I’m really looking forward to defending my title and taking part in next year’s competition. I’m going to work hard in my training to try and win an individual medal.”
His next personal challenge is to achieve his 2nd Dan but he has a bigger goal: to represent England in the JKA Karate World Championships due to take place in Dubai in 2017.
