Karate: Student's win lauded 'one of best fights'

TITLE BOUND: Jackie Wooster (right) on her way to victory over Yvette Messina. PHOTO/Warren Buckland

WELLINGTON-BASED Hawke's Bay karate exponent Jackie Wooster entered the weekend's 47th annual New Zealand Kyokushin Matsushima tournament in Hastings to surprise her family.

"I wasn't going to enter but then I decided I would because we're on our Easter break and I thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone," Wooster, a second-year nursing student at Massey University in Wellington, said.

One of five children from her family of seven siblings who competed at the weekend, Wooster, 21, ended up getting a surprise herself. After she beat Waikato's Sophie Tuoth to capture the open women's title for the second time in three years Sensei Ben Terekia of Gisborne threw her a huge compliment.

"I've been around karate for 43 years and I rank that win by Jackie among the top 10 female fights of all time in New Zealand." Wooster, who didn't compete in last year's tournament because of her studies, was almost lost for words.

"That's a big honour to hear that from Sensei Ben. Studying is my priority now so I haven't been fighting as much as I should have," Wooster, who has been fighting for 14 years, said.

One of three competitors in her division of the 100-fighter event at the Hastings Sports Centre, Wooster, will go to the Aussie nationals in August with the aim of qualifying for the November world championships in Japan. Should she qualify the Japan trip will be her second taste of world championship level fighting.

"I finished third at the 2014 World Cup in South Africa. Next time I want to finish higher on the podium," Wooster added.

The Hastings Martial Arts Academy pair of Cheyenne Collins and Jesse Wall finished second and third respectively in the open men's division to Waikato's Kauri Davies. Both Collins and Wall will aim for top three finishes in Aussie to qualify for the trip to Japan.

Collins, 26, has been fighting for four years and Wall, 21, for 10 years.

Wall and Collins trainer Daniel Penn said Collins, who beat Davies at last year's tournament, was hindered slightly by a knee injury.

"Kauri targeted the knee but until then Cheyenne was doing well. He knocked out his first opponent from Auckland with a spectacular spinning heel kick," Penn said.