CIMAC Superleague November 11th 2012

All highlights are available now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx-1iBv-3_M&feature=plcp

Having competed in 7 Cimac Superleague competitions in 2012 the Genesis Unleashed Fight Team have travelled to Windsor 3 times, Birmingham twice, Stoke, and Dorking racking up points racking up wins towards the Cimac Superleague Grand Championship with the final event taking place in Maidenhead. 

In attendance were Archie Thompson and Kieran Johnson who have already secured their Cimac Grand Championship titles with insurmountable 25 point and 12 point leads in their respective categories.

Also in with the chance of taking home the Cimac Grand Championships titles are Waleed Bin Akram who entered the day with a 3 point lead in his category, Louise Birkett who had a 1 point lead and Armid Akram who was a single point behind the leader in his category.

Unable to fight due to injury fight team members Archie Thompson and Shannon Barlow supported their Team Mates with their attendance. Backing up the Unleashed Fight Team were Squad members Liam Blandford, Adam Spittles and Brothers Ven and AJ Gunasingham.

Having competed in the boys under 4ft 2 novice section all year Waleed Bin Akram led the Genesis Unleashed Team out to his sixth win of the year which resulting in him being crowned the 2012 Cimac Superleague Grand Champion in the Novice Boys under 4ft 2 semi contact section. 

Waleed also competed in the boys advanced semi contact section under 4ft 2 which had just 3 participants, meaning Waleed was guarenteed a bronze medal. In the opening round Waleed held his own but was unable to overcome his more experienced opponent losing by several points whilst gaining an important lesson that he needs to improve and that there are stronger fighters out there to challenge next year. After a tiring set of fights Waleed was still happy with his days work and his bronze medal.

Next up in the boys under 4ft 9 novice semi contact section were Liam Blandford and Ven Gunasingham, both students were in only their 2^nd competition of the year. With both winning their first round matches they were set to meet in the second round. In a close match neither classmate wanted to lose with Liam adopting an attacking strategy with Ven sitting back looking to counter. In the close match the scores were tied as time had expired in the first frame. At the end of an extended 30 second period which was back and fourth both continued to be deadlocked on points and the match went to sudden death. With both fighters looking to take the advantage it was Venathon who scored the all important point to secure the victory. 

In the next round Ven unfortunately received a kick to the shoulder which left him unable to continue in the competition. Neither he or Liam are Fight Team members but they certainly haven’t hurt their chances of potentially being inducted the team in 2013 with their promising performances. 

Showing true Genesis grit and looking to get more mat time and experience Liam also entered himself in the boys advanced under 4ft 9 section. In the opening round Liam was unable to execute his game plan due to the skill level of his opponent but his put on a good fight and continued to press his opponent through out.

Big brother of Ven, AJ fought in the young men’s under 60kg light contact section. Facing larger more experienced opponent a visibly nervous AJ imposed his game on his opponent in parts and looked to be getting into the fight as time progressed. As time expired the judges gave a unanimous decision to his opponent but it was a positive outing for AJ who said he really enjoyed it and wanted to know when the next competition was. With more competition experience AJ will be a force and will be a welcome member to the Genesis Stable of up and coming fighters.

Having grown 3 inches in 2012 Kieran Johnson now stands 5ft 4 inches and has outgrown the boys under 5ft 2 section which he secured the Cimac Grand Champion 2012 in. So what to do now? Test him for 2013. Kieran was entered into both semi and light contact advanced sections under 5ft 5. As with Kieran in the 5ft 2 section several of the fighters in the 5ft 5 section had outgrown it but were eligible to fight in at as they started the year in the section despite being taller than the 5ft 8 referee. Kieran has come a long way in the last year and this test showed just how far he has come. Kieran won the boys semi contact section and secured third place in the boys light continuous sections which is promising and shows his new found maturity. 

At this point of the day it is usually time for Fight Team members Shannon Barlow and Archie Thompson to compete in their sections. Unfortunately both are out with injury at present so could not fight on the day. Fortunately for Archie he has secured boys Grand Champion under 5ft 2 section at light continuous before hand. Shannons injury at Cimac Dorking meant that her challenge for the title has now evaporated but she resulted in a runner up overall which is certainly not to be sniffed at.