21st European Kendo Championship Day 2 - Ladies Individual and Mens Team Tournaments

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Yesterday the German ladies set the tone for the day by handling nearly all of their opponents with ease and capturing the title. Their success seemed to carry over to the German men early on as they manhandled the Austrians and overcame an early deficit to the Hungarians in order to advance to the semi-final round. Unlike their long haired teammates they advanced no further due to the equally confident French team. To be sure it was a frenetic semi-final that required all five matches to determine the winner with players on the ground at various times. France eventually won through and went on to face Spain at the end of the day.

In that match France jumped out to an early lead with four quick points. In the following match Spain - to the delight of the crowd - answered with two points of its own. In the end, however, Spain couldn't stop France from running out the clock in the final match and holding onto victory.

In the Ladies Individual Tournament Hungary beat Bulgaria Belgium on a kote point early in the final match.

I'll upload photos from tomorrow's matches after the leaving party and all the rest when I get home to my wonderful fibre connection. Check here for more photos from the 21st European Kendo Championship

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