Nevola's medal haul (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Nevola's medal haul

8:30am Saturday 27th June 2009 in General

A NORTH Hampshire karate expert picked up two medals when he travelled to the Ukraine for the world championships.

Mark Nevola, who is 46 and lives in Tadley, won a silver and a bronze medal in team events at the tournament but is disappointed to have missed out on individual glory, having been knocked out in the quarter-finals.

“I went over there to be number one so I was disappointed with the individual event,” he said.

“Last time I went to the world championships I got two bronzes and, while I went one better this time, I wanted to medal individually.

“I got some pretty decent results though and I was happy with the team performance.”

Nevola, who fights for Ireland, travelled to Odessa for the World Union of Karate-Do Federations’ World Karate Championship Seniors. He was the lead fighter in the veteran team event and played a big part in helping Ireland to the final of the competition, where the three-man side lost to France.

Nevola narrowly lost his bout in the final, going down 3-2 on points to the top French fighter.

Ireland also made good progress in the veteran rotation competition.

Rotation is a new event in karate and sees teams of three compete for six minutes, with fighters in action for a minimum of 15 seconds before they are able to tag another member of their team in.

Nevola’s team reached the semi-finals, where they came up against France.

Nevola scored all of Ireland’s points but it was not enough as France came out on top again, with Nevola forced to settle for a bronze medal.

In the over-45 individual event, Nevola stopped his first three opponents by building up a six point lead but came up against a Ukrainian fighter in the quarter final and lost.

“I felt a bit hard done by because I used him as a punch bag for three rounds but did not score a single point,” Nevola said.

“I was a bit unlucky because if I had been in the other half of the draw I would have met him in the final, but that’s life.”

Nevola’s next target is the British championships, which will take place in September.