34 members of the Cowdenbeath karate club travelled over to Hasslet , in Belgium, last weekend , to fight in the 4 nation cup. Clubs from Belgium, England, Ireland and Scotland attended the well run event by sensei Eric Bortels and his karate group.

On arrival on the Friday the club trained in pre fighting session before retiring to bed for the long days fighting ahead.

With an early start on the Saturday morning the tournament got under way with a presentation to all the clubs coaches from the Hasslet mayor with the junior fighting first up on the mat. First group was junior up to 11 years with all the Cowdenbeath fighters fighting well but the title went to Cowdenbeath’s Richard Cairns who beat Mel Maxwell in a close final. Omar Hussain finishing in 4th place. Pavinder Singh then finished third in his junior section, 13-14 boys. Next up was Ben Smith who brilliantly won his group, followed by Steven Smith winning his against tough English opposition.

The senior men’s event was next with 4 Cowdenbeath fighters winning through to the evening’s finals beating Irish, Belgium and English fighters. John Izatt, Chris Whyte, Mark Fitzpatrick and Allan Goodwin the fought each other to decide the title. With all fights very close and indeed some extensions necessary it was finally mark who defeated Chris to take the title .

Mark stein made her way to the woman's final beat lost 5-4 to take the silver medal.

Daniel Hodge won the 16 years fighting beating all opposition including Nathan Sealey on a count back of total points with neither fighter losing a fight all day. Jack Sneddon finished 2nd in his section with some great fighting.

The Cowdenbeath club then decided to enter the Kata events. They usually prove reluctant to do so but Gordon persuaded them !

Chris Whyte won the overall senior title with club made Mark Fitzpatrick in third.

In the juniors Mel Maxwell won the title , Bradley Innes finished third as did Kayleigh Ritchie. In the u21 John Izatt finished third.

Finally the Cowdenbeath men's team finished third after 30 minutes of preparation !

Cowdenbeath also put on a display team with all members dressed in Japanese outfits and saltires worn .

The main event was the senior team event with Cowdenbeath beating both Belgium and England to win the title.

After the long day the team retired back to their training camp and had a visit of Hasslet on the Sunday before returning back to Scotland on the Monday.

Gordon Maxwell would like to thank all students and family for their support and to Eric Bortels for his fantastic hospitality. Also all sponsors:- Smart Travel, Ron Sealey Volvo Motors, PDMS Electrical of Dunfermline, Tarrant Woodrow , Marathon Oil UK and all persons who attended their race night at the Woodside Hotel, Cowdenbeath.