Harry Knight becomes Portsmouth karate club’s first ever national champion

From left - Sonny Smith, Oliver Greenwood, Harry Knight and Elliott Perrin all medalled at the Southern Regional Championships in Reading.

The nine-year-old won gold in the children’s Ippon Kumite and gold in the children’s kata at the KUGB National Championships in Nottingham. As a result, he became the KUGB national grand champion.

Previously, 13 students of the Portsmouth Knight Karate Club (PKKC) had attended the KUGB Southern Region Championships in Reading, winning 17 medals in all.

They were the first major events attended by members of a club that was opened by Harry’s dad, Shaun, just prior to the first national lockdown in 2020.

Harry Knight with his national kata and ippon kumite trophies he won in Nottingham

PKKC are affiliated to the KUGB (Karate Union of Great Britain), the largest, longest-established and most successful single-style Karate Association with over 350 clubs in the UK.

Sensei Shaun Knight is a 3rd Dan who started his own karate journey aged nine for the KUGB/JKA. He went on to win Kumite and Kata championships and took part in many national and international events with the Shotokan of England squad in the 1990s. PkKC is the first club Shaun has ever run on his own.

Harry Knight – who attends Wimborne Primary School in Southsea - had also collected of his club’s four golds at the Southern Region Champions, along with his dad, Hana Ahmed and Seren Greaves.

Harry also won the squad’s only silver, while bronze went to Greaves (2), Elliott Perrin (2), Joel Spackman (2), Shaun Knight, Glen Knight, Sonny Smith and Oliver Greenwood.

PKKC have around 40 members - youngsters and adults - and train twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays at the Eastney Community Centre in Bransbury Park.