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20 lbs heavier than Chi. Chi effectively
used Chudan Mawashi (Middle Roundhouse Kick) to move forward but
was frequently pushed back when her opponent landed powerful
body cut to the stomach. Chi tried to find a way out of the
pressure by moving to the side. When both of the fighters started
showing fatigue, time was up. Although Chi lost the match, she
won herself great spirit.
Exactly a year ago,
Tomomi fought
in the Canadians and experienced a Kyokushin match for the first
time. Since then, she has competed in many different tournaments
held in BC but has never won a single match....until today. Her
dream finally came true when she beat her first opponent in the
women's lightweights and won the precious victory. The match
itself lasted only two minutes but there were literally hundreds of hours spent for training. The two minutes
represented the product of her sweat, blood and tears in those
hard workouts.
Last year,
Marceli fought in
the Canadians but lost by Genten (Penalty) for kicking
to the groin. This year, he looked more controlled in a match
and focused on defense. Until a halfway into the bout, Marceli's
Gedan Mawashi (Low Roundhouse Kick) was landing very well. But
the aggressiveness he was showing at first clearly dwindled in
the last thirty seconds. His opponent took advantage of it and
landed more punches to Marceli's body. The green belt senior
fighter needs to work more on his stamina .
Mark Berg of the Langley dojo
has been training regularly with us since this January. The
sturdy built yellow belt won two fights in this event and
captured the Gold Medal. His right low kick possesses the amount
of power enable to make an opponent feel in the left leg with
single hit. The 19-year-old young lion has a bright future ahead
of him if he pursues his fighting career.
In the last six months,
Tama had entered two tournaments and lost both in the first round
one-sidedly. Bitter and vexing feelings he was forced to live
with pushed him to train exceptionally hard with Michi in the last
two months. By watching him fight today, we all agreed that his
techniques were polished up sharper than ever before. Taking
into account that his opponent was a renowned Baldalip Thind,
Tama evenly carried out the match with the lightweight champion.
With 20 seconds to go, Tama backed up a bit to avoid a flurry of
the punches that Baldalip released. because of the slight edge
he gave away, Tame lost the match but he stood out best among the
three lightweight open fighters that represented our club in
this tournament.
If you see the way
Stas and
Albert lost today you can easily see the cause of their loss. It's
lack of stamina. They simply have to train harder if they want
to stay competitive. Albert and Stas are both having a tough
time in creating time for training. Numerous students
quit fighting or stop training altogether after graduating a
secondary school. When you start working or attending a post
secondary education, time for Kyokushin gets very limited all of
sudden. Well-time managements and strong spirit must be taken
place to keep up both work and training. Only those who manage
to pass this testing time will eventually be allowed to go to
the World Tournament. This is the decisive line drawn between
local junior champions and international contenders. Both Albert
and Stas are right at the borderline.
Both Kris and Michi set a
great example to those young fighters on that matter. Kris is a certified
paramedic and has to work shift jobs. But he always manages to
find time for training. Last year, he went beyond the BC
borders and made his debut in an international tournament in New York. Michi's case is more difficult.
He had to leave Vancouver for two years to work as a pilot of a
commercial airline. During the extensive period of time, he kept
training alone and found himself fight in the World Tournament.
He proved that nothing is impossible and all you need is a will.
In the open heavyweights,
Kris
first faced Daymon Miller of the Banff Dojo. We had expected
before the fight that it would not be an easy match for Kris as
Daymon were doing very well in recent tournaments. The match
first looked pretty even but was beginning to go well for Kris
after a halfway point. Kris's well-timed Uchimata Geri (Inside
Low kick) frequently stung Daymon's right leg. The kick made him
back up and won the match. In the second fight, Kris fought Mike
McDougall from Victoria. Kris first struggled because Mike
stayed very close in an attempt to kill the distance needed for
Kris to use the reach advantage. But Kris quickly made a change
in strategy by delivering sharp Hiza Geri (Knee Kick). Two flags
were raised in favor of Kris but the centre referee called
Hikiwake (Draw). In the extension, Mike looked more lively than
Kris and persistently kept punching the body. Kris still used
the knee in an effective way but lost a bit of momentum. When we
just thought Kris would let a victory slip away, he landed
the knee to the head. Mike momentarily went into a stall while
Kris kept going with the knee. Kris came back from behind and
won a very meaningful victory for himself. After all, he beat
the two current Vancouver Cup champions and moved on to face Michi in the finals.
In this event,
Michi won three
matches over Shawn, Nathan and Kris respectively. The strong and
fast body punches that he had developed over the years finally
brought him the first ever Gold Medal in his career. In the past
six years, he fought all major tournaments held throughout North
America: All American, US Weight Category, Montreal and
Vancouver Cup. The experience he gained from them was enormous,
and we kept believing in him that it would one day bloom. The
day finally came today when he fired his
engine to hummer speedy punches into Kris's body. One gold medal in six years
is a very low percentage but I'm sure it will catch up from now
on. As your sensei, I know how many difficult times you had to go
through in the last several years. Where there is a will there is a way. Congratulations, Michi!
The 25th anniversary tournament
was a great success. I would like to thank and congratulate the IKOK-C for the long-term service the organization provided
for the past 25 years. I'm sure the tournament will only keep growing well
into the future. Osu!
Tats Nakamura
Vancouver Kyokushin Karate
 More
photos will be posted shortly at
the event web site.
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