ALEXANDRA Slack of Stanwell School and her brother Christopher Slack (Evenlode) who both train with Sensei Rob Copeland at Vale Karate, had the honour of representing Karate Wales this April in the SKSM Karate International Open in Malta.

They were also accompanied by four other members of the Karate Wales squad from Ken Bu Kan who train in Swansea: Luke Howard, Sam Cana, Josh Davies and Jacob Denham.

No less than 14 countries were in attendance at this well respected and very high standard international event, with countries such as Russia, Israel, Portugal, the Netherlands and Wales all taking part for the highly coveted trophies.

Alexandra and Christopher Slack competed initially in their individual Kata categories, and Christopher in the U12’s Kumite but sadly failed to progress despite excellent performances.

However they also competed in the U16’s Pairs Kata and managed to fight off strong competition to attain 1st place together in Pairs Kata.

Their fellow Karate Wales competitors also achieved medals: Luke Howard won a Bronze in Men’s Kumite, Sam Cana won a Bronze in U17’s Kata, Josh Davies won a Bronze in U14’s Kumite and Jacob Denham triumphed to win the Gold in the U12’s Kumite.

Alexandra and Christopher are regular competitors for Karate Wales in competitions both locally and nationally and have won many medals over their careers so far. This was the first of their international competitions abroad and so were thrilled to be able to bring back a Gold for Wales to their hometown of Penarth.