Fordingbridge’s Thomas Klemz begins France journey with Junior European Karate Championships silver in Georgia
FORDINGBRIDGE teenager Tom Klemz has won silver at the Junior European Karate Championships in Georgia.
Burgate School’s Klemz, who now represents France and is the number one ranked 14-16 kata practitioner in the World Karate Federation rankings, took silver after a hard-fought final against Turkish martial artist Tarik Koc.
Klemz flew to Paris to join the French karate team, which fully funded him. The 16-year-old, who previously represented England, then took two flights to Tbilisi in Georgia.
To reach the final, the talented martial artist fought through four rounds. He defeated Croatian Lovro Erak in the first round, Spaniard Elisey Gritsenko – who finished third – in the second round, Slovakian Daniel Nedoroscik in the third round and Portuguese Martim Oliveira in the fourth.
Klemz, a Karate CKS member who is trained by two-time World Karate Championships medallist and multiple European medallist Sandy Scordo, said: “I am so pleased to have podiumed at such a prestigious championship, and am so grateful to all the people who have believed in me so far and who continue to support me in my journey.
“There are so many, but to name a few, my coach Sandy, who never tires of correcting me; my club CKS, headed by Marc and Yves Ruelle, who treat me so well and who is behind me every step of the way; my physio Richard Gulliver, who fixes me regularly; the coaches from the French national team, who believed in me when they selected me; and, of course, my parents, who have kept me safe and motivated throughout my karate journey so far.
“Even though there are days when it’s hard to keep going and make sacrifices, hard work and dedication do pay off, and I can’t wait to keep working towards my next goal.”
Sandy added: “As a personal karate coach of Tom, I’m glad to say we did it!
“We started to work together two years ago, and slowly, we built a strong preparation.
“In 2023, he became number one in the world without any world or European championships medals. That was the goal of 2024.
“First, we worked to be part of Team France and finally to be medalist of the European championship, which was our first goal.
“I’m very proud of his result because he worked hard and was not focused on medals but more on performance and giving his best, which is something more important than being on the podium.
“So we did it, he did it, the whole team did it. The next step is to be qualified for the world championship in October in Venice.”
The proud martial artist, who is preparing to take his GCSEs later this year, is already back in the dojo getting ready for the upcoming French championship next month.
