A 15-year-old boy from Ystrad Mynach has become Wales’ youngest male medallist after claiming bronze at a European karate tournament in Portugal.
Tomás Moya, who trains at Bargoed Shotokan Karate Club under Sensei Kevin O’Neill, has enjoyed a successful year and was selected to represent Wales at the European Shoyokan Karate-do Association (ESKA) Championships in Matosinhos, Portugal between November 24 and 26.
Selected to compete in both the kumite and kata disciplines in the Youth Men’s (under-16) category, and in kata in the Cadet Men’s (under-18) category, Tomás grasped his first taste of competition at European level with both hands.
In the latter, Tomás was drawn with England’s Abdul Saif, and despite tasting defeat, gave a very confident performance against the eventual champion.
The Lewis School pupil’s Youth Men’s kumite debut followed a similar path. Again, a competitive, exciting contest went the distance and ended with a narrow defeat by waza-ari (the second highest score attainable) to the eventual bronze medallist Osmani.
However, having defeated competitors from Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, and Portugal, Tomás competed in the Youth Men’s kata final.
He executed a performance of Kanku Dai and ended with bronze, sharing the podium with Russian fighter Fazly.
Kevin O’Neill described Tomás’ performance at the championships as “outstanding in every way”, and confirming Tomás as the first medallist to have graduated from the KUGB Wales Junior Development squad programme.