The Adults Knockdown categories in the afternoon set the tone of the world famous Kyokushin contact fighting. A bunch of VKK fighters bravely entered the ring and delivered blows and kicks in a full swing. Tomomi, Yuki and David took the challenge of competing in a Kyokushin tournament first time. Although they lost at the first round, the experience they earned was tremendous. It gave the colored belts an entirely different perspective of Karate training. Shinichi faced Tylor from Armstrong Dojo in the men's LW. The fight revealed the green belt's weakness. During the course of the bout, there were a couple of moments when Shinichi just paused for more than ten seconds and watched his opponent's moves. That type of strategy quite often gives negative impression to judges. He tried to come back from behind in a overtime but it was too late. Aggressiveness is much needed to win and Shinichi must get it next time. Exactly the same thing happened to Jordan who fought in the Men's Open. Jordan held himself back for some reason letting his opponent easily land a flurry of punches. The young brown belt seems to have struggled to acquire self-confidence since Montreal in March but has not been successful yet. Esther and Sachiko once again fought each other in the finals of Women's HW since Newton in February. Esther's powerful attack looked overwhelming to the much smaller Japanese. Sachiko's bold attempt to fight toe to toe against the experienced brown belt turned out a false idea when she was downed by Esther's devastating Hiza geri (Knee Kick). Sachiko needs to practice more effective lateral moves and footwork.

Amongst all of us, the day's MVP was Stas who fought two matches in the 17-18 years old division. His speedy Gedan Mawashi (Low Kick) following the strong Shita-tsuki (Body Cut) brought himself a perfect win with Ippon (Full Point Victory) in both matches. Stas began competing three years ago and never won a single match until last year. His biggest problem was the lack of self-esteem and let him give up in the middle of a match. But he kept trying and coming back to a tournament after tournament. Today, the perseverance finally bore fruits. It was very nice to see him standing tall with Gold Medal proudly shining on his chests. Great job, Stas!

A lot of great fights were seen throughout the day and we could safely say the event was a great success. We would like to thank IKOK-Canada for providing us with such a wonderful opportunity each and every year. This event enjoys twenty four years of exciting history and it'll end up being here in Canada for a quarter-century next year. Make sure to be there! Osu.

Tats Nakamura
Vancouver Kyokushin Karate