Huge success for elite sports scholar, Luke Yates, who recently competed in the WUKF World and European Championships in America and Europe.
A Sports and Exercise Science for Health scholar by day and a Karate champion by night. High off his bronze and silver medal win at the GB Open in March 2022, Luke recently returned from the USA and Europe, after competing in the WUKF World and European Championships.
Beginning this quest in July 2022, Luke set off for the 10th WUKF World Championships, which took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Here Luke competed in the singles Kata and Kumite and team fighting events. Facing intense competition, Luke was unable to progress to the second round of his individual events, although he went on to compete with his fellow teammates, where they pushed through to the quarter-finals, facing Poland for their chance to win. The team fought well, with Luke taking on the final battle and securing the team’s place in the semi-finals. Moving forward to face off against Romania at the final event, the team came away in silver medal position, after suffering a Romanian defeat. The team took home the silver medal position, becoming the 2022 WUKF World Shobu Sanbon Male Seniors Team Silver medallists.
Kicking into action, Luke embarked on a busy autumn term combining his studies whilst also working hard to prepare for the next event, the 12th WUKF European Championships, which would take place in Florence, in November 2022. The championships once again saw Luke compete in the individual events, placing 14th in the Kumite 18-20 juniors – 75kg and open weight categories. Narrowly missing out on his chance to fight in the semi-finals, after losing out to a fellow British athlete during the quarter-finals.
Following his unfortunate defeat, Luke went on to fight as part of the English 18-20 junior fighting team. The team’s exceptional performance secured their place in the semi-finals, where they lost out to an Italian team, and took home the bronze. Luke was also awarded a second bronze medal after competing in the senior men’s team, where they defeated Denmark, but were subsequently taken out by the reigning World Champions, Romania during the semi-finals.
This incredible experience saw the England team finish 3rd in the WUKF World Championships in Florida and 12th in the European Championships in Florence 2022.
Continuing his studies at Kent this academic year, Luke is currently preparing to fly the flag for the University of Kent sports scholarship scheme at the British Championships this month and again taking his A-game to the 11th WUKF World Championships in Dundee, Scotland and the European Championships in France later this year.
We wish Luke all the best in his future Karate endeavours and are proud to be able to play a part in this huge journey!
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