Sports reports: Karate kid Seth Puddy wins gold at nationals

This post includes contributions from Tyndale Christian School, Michael Potts and Daniel Irvine.

• 🥋 Karate kid Seth Puddy wins gold at nationals
• ⛳️ Wunderkind Levi Ashton does it again
• 🔫 Sunny weather mixes things up for shooters

Karate kid Seth Puddy wins gold at nationals

Tyndale Christian School student Seth Puddy has won a gold medal at the recent 2024 Karate Australia National Championships, held from August 2-4 in Geelong.

The championships featured participation from six states, with 853 athletes competing.

Seth won gold in the over 70 kilogram weight division against a highly accomplished competitor who had previously won the gold title and represented Australia in Italy.

Seth’s exceptional performance not only earned him the top spot on the podium but also qualified him to represent the region at the Oceania championships in New Zealand in 2025.

Seth was accompanied by 14 other athletes from South Australia and under the expert guidance of his sensei and coach, Matt Johnson, who is also the under-21s Australian coach.

Seth has been training at the Shingokan Karate Club in Virginia since the age of three.

His dedication to his sport is evident, with his family travelling twice a week to get him to and from trainings, not including the extra training he undertakes before big competitions like this.

Seth’s hard work and determination in karate has led him to this important achievement.

Winning against such a tough opponent shows how much he has improved as an athlete, and his school is excited to see what the future holds for such a talented and dedicated individual.

Tyndale Christian School Murray Bridge extends its heartfelt congratulations to Seth and looks forward to supporting him as he prepares for the Oceania championships in 2025.

Wunderkind Levi Ashton does it again

Four months ago, new Murray Bridge Golf Club member Levi Ashton stunned all and sundry by winning a Saturday competition with 41 Stableford points.

Roll forward to last Saturday and history repeated with the still-11-year-old absolutely smashing the field once again, this time with a mind-blowing 46 points – that’s right, a personal best 75 off the stick.

Having played off a 17 handicap for all of those last four months, the ginger-haired prodigy will now have to see how he handles a 13 handicap next round.

This may well not worry him if he can reproduce his rock solid straight drives off the tee and steady chipping and putting around and on the greens.

Exciting times are ahead for this young man.

Speaking of quality golf, club champ Aaron Zrim was in the groove, shooting an even par 68 off the stick to give him 38 points and a win in the A grade.

Rod Thoman is hitting the ball well these days and he cruised to victory in the B grade with 37 points, while Aaron Hissey took out the C grade with a great round of 39 points.

There was only ever going to be one winner of the pro comp for the best back nine: Ashton with his off-the-planet 25 points.

The yabby, for the nearest the pin on the 11th, was a fairytale story too, as 30-something handicapper Geoff Pearson beat a couple of two and three handicap players for the prize money with a superbly struck iron that will keep him playing for a few rounds to come.

Well done Geoff.

Sunny weather mixes things up for shooters

A sunny August day has proven to contain hidden challenges for shooters as a light but variable wind kept scores lower than expected for 600 metres.

Leading the way in F-class on Saturday was Ryan Yeates, whose 113.04 in F-open was well ahead of the F-standard shooters and was enough to give him the overall F-class handicap win for the day, two points ahead of Peter Casley.

Casley’s off-rifle score of 103.03 was enough for him to finish second in F-standard, three points behind winner Gordon Harrison, who finished with 106.04.

Notably, Harrison had excellent sighters on the day, winning the snipers award with a 23.01 out of a possible 24.

In TR, Andrew Heard’s second round 48.05 was more than enough to see him finish ahead of Jasamine Irvine, 95.09 to 92.06.

There was only one unlucky magpie winner on the day, with Peter Byass claiming the prize in F-class with a single “bird”.

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