The Scottish Cup, a Novice Knockdown tournament in full contact karate, will be held at the Mid Argyll Sports Centre in Lochgilphead on Saturday 6th March at 2.00pm. It is being organised by the Kyokushin Schools of Karate (KSK) Scotland.

This is KSK’s first attempt to hold this kind of tournament in Scotland – and it is to be in Argyll.

Normally fighters have to go to London to compete, where the standard is pretty high. This means that local fighters who’ve not competed at this sort of event before are very much thrown in at the deep end. So the idea behind this tournament is to give the Scottish fighters some experience and preparation for the bigger tournaments.

As the first of what is it is hoped will be a continuing series, the Scottish Cup will be a small scale event with around 20 fighters. Competitors are coming from clubs in Oban, Lochgilphead, Edinburgh & Perth.

This year the Kyokushin Schools are only inviting Scottish Clubs, but if the event proves successful they will open it to all UK clubs in the future.

The event and its potential development has the capacity to add a significant strand to Argyll’s growing specialism in outdoor and specialist sports.

The Scottish Cup is a Novice event – meaning that the fighters must not have competed more than 3 times in the past – but the standard should still be quite high.

Full contact means just that (we had to ask). You have to try to knock your opponent down. See 2 Oban Fighters in action here in a video of a British Karate Championship contest at London’s Crystal Palace in 2006.

Kyolushin is the most practised style in the world with more than 15 million registered practitioners, yet there are very few clubs in Scotland that practice the Kyokushin Schools style. There is one in Argyll, KSK Scotland, operating in Oban and Lochgilphead, under Sensei Iain Rodger. The only other clubs are in Perth, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

For those interested in trying or developing the sport, here are the details of martial arts clubs in Argyll.

• Kyokushin Karate: The Oban Martial Arts Centre, Combie Lane, Oban. Thursdays: Juniors 6pm & Seniors 7pm. Sensei Iain Rodger
• Kyokushin Karate: The Mid Argyll Sports Centre, Lochgilphead. Wednesdays: Juniors 7pm & Seniors 8pm. Sensei Iain Rodger
• Senshi Do Kick-Boxing: The Oban Martial Arts Centre, Combie Lane, Oban. Wednesdays from 6pm. Shihan Wullie Rodger
• Shukokai Karate: The Oban Martial Arts Centre, Combie Lane, Oban. Mondays. Senseis: Kenny Gray & Flo McBurnie
• Wadokai Karate: The Cathedral Hall, Oban. Tuesdays. Sensei Christopher Bruce
• Muay Thai Kick-Boxing: The Mid Argyll Sports Centre, Lochgilphead. Tuesdays. Instructor Stuart Green
• Satori Karate: Dunoon
• Karate Jutsu Kai:  Dunoon
• Tora-Kai Karate: Helensburgh
• Shotokan Karate:  Helensburgh
• Jutsu Kai: Mull. Sorry – no details available