26th
Canadian Championships
May 2, 2009, BCIT Burnaby BC
Fight Review
Four students competed from the downtown's kids class. Samantha and Amir
performed very well in the kata divisions. Unfortunately, they
were not able to place this time but had a great experience. Both
John and Nicolas fought in the contact division for the first time
and did very well. John came to the 3rd place and received the
Bronze medal.
Fight Review Keegan
Wong earned three medals. The 16-year-old green
belt competed in full swing, performing three katas in two
different divisions and fighting in the non-contact 13-16 kumite.
In the Kata Open, Keegan was once again challenged by Sempai Hiro
Hayashi from Victoria Dojo. This was their forth tournament where
the two kata masters competed against one another and it had been
always Keegan who outscored Hiro. But this time, the black belt
managed to defeat Keegan by delivering powerful techniques in "Sushiho". Although Keegan resulted in the second place, his
performance was admired by a lot of participants.
Fight Review
Tomomi again faces off with Eden. A month before the
tournament, Tomomi injured her right hand during a class. The
injury developed as she kept training, and finally came to a point
where she even had a hard time tying her belt. Her right hand was
virtually useless by the time she fought her rival, Eden from
North Richmond Dojo. But the spirited blue belt never quit. Tomomi
came up with the plan to utilize the Hiji (elbow) to attack the
opponent and it worked very well. After the see-saw
match including an extension round, the judging team declared Eden as a winner. It was an
unfortunate decision for Tomomi but her fighting spirit was fully
displayed beyond winning and losing.
Fight Review
Pasha fights in the 19 and over. Combining divisions
sometimes happens when there are not enough fighters. An extreme
example of this was applied to Pasha in this tournament. The
16-year-old brown belt was put in the Men's CB Heavyweights and
fought tremendously well. Pasha focused on the opponent's mid
section and repeatedly delivered his favorite Chudan Mawashi (middle
roundhouse kick). The much bigger opponent was forced to back up
and walk out of bound. Pasha acquired the Gold Medal first time in
the Men's Division. The sky is the limit for this young energetic
Kyokushin fighter.
Fight Review Gerald and Jason
meet in the finals.
The Men's CB Lightweight saw three
VKK fighters. Ehssan, who had just come back to Vancouver from a
business trip, did his best in his first fight but the lack of
training showed as he began slowing down towards the end of the
match. The loss gave him a great learning opportunity and will be
effectively used for the next event. Both Gerald and Jason
overpowered their first opponents and advanced to the finals.
These two young fighters looked very fit and prepared very well
for the tournament. While Gerald had an edge in terms of stamina
Jason possessed well-polished high kicks. About one minute into
the match, Jason's right Jodan Mawashi (high roundhouse kick)
squarely landed and earned him Waza-ari (a half point). Gerald
made great effort to come back from behind by charging his
opponent with unstoppable punches, however the attempt was not
strong enough to cancel out the half point. The fight revealed
some weaknesses on both of them: Jason needs to work on endurance
while Gerald has to guard up more.
Fight Review
The lightest fighter
wins in the Lightweight Open.
In the Kyokushin world, courage and
hard training prevail the
size of fighters. This year's lightweight open gave us a perfect
example of the theory.The weight limit of this division is 165lbs while Tsuguo
only weighs 120lbs.Tsuguo fought through three matches against much
heavier opponents. His crisp body movements, incredible stamina
and strategy that stoically moved forward were so remarkable that
the audience could not help cheering on this Japanese fighter. The
lightening punches that Tsuguo released at the end of the finals
was just outstanding and proved him to be a worthy champion.
Fight Review
Amirali comes close
to cause an upset.
Amirali from the downtown dojo displayed significant improvement
as well. In his first match, Amirali succeeded in acquiring
Waza-ari by Shita zuki (Body cut punch). Determined to fight
Tsuguo in the finals, Amirali stepped onto the mat in the semi
finals against Baldalip Thind. The two fought one another two
years ago at Vancouver Cup where Baldalip defeated Amirali rather
easily. But this time, Amirali came out strong and aggressively
cornered his opponent. With one point short for Amirali to win,
the fight went into an extension round where Baldalip slowly took
control of the bout. He set a focal spot on Amirali's right leg by
throwing sharp Gedan Mawashi. Amirali endured the damage from the
kick but could not conceal it from the judges. The Persian fighter
came very close to the much wanted victory and earned himself a
lot of confidence which is crucially necessary to go through the
daily hard training again for the next event.
Fight Review
Michi and Kris once again exchange the fists.
In the Men's heavyweight Open, Kris
prominently utilized a combination of the left Hiza and Gedan
Mawashi. The first fight saw him routinely throw left Gedan and
receive a valuable win. He then scored Waza-ari by left Chudan
Hiza in his second fight and moved up to the finals. As he
experienced more tournaments in the past couple of years, Kris
seems to have established his own winning formula by combining
certain techniques. From the opposite side of the draw, the
current champion, Michi came up as expected. Last year, Michi
defeated Kris in the first round. But this time, the fight made
them carry on two extensions. The two teammates fiercely attacked
on each other for seven minutes. The match looked so close that
the judges had to give it a draw even after the second overtime.
Then, for the first time in the history of the Canadian
Championships, the decision was made by Tameshiwari (Board
breaking), and Michi Nagase was declared the winner by two extra
boards broken. The black belt was successful in keeping the title
two consecutive years.
26th Canadian
Championships Results
Kata Divisions
Keegan Wong - Kata Green Belt: 1st
Keegan Wong - Kata Open: 2nd
Samantha Nagalingam - Kata Green Belt: 5th
Amir Eskandari - Kata Brown Belt: 4th
Non Contact Kumite
Keegan Wong - NC 13-16 yrs old: 1st
Children Knock Down
divisions
John Arcega - Children 101lbs and over: 3rd
Nicolas Perrigaud - Children 91-100 lbs: 1st rd loss
Adults Knock Down
Divisions
Tomomi Inoue - Women
CB 19 & over LW: 2nd
Ehssan Ghahremani - Men CB 19 & over LW: 1st rd loss
Jason Park - Men CB 19 & over LW: 1st
Gerald Gutierres - Men 19 & over CB LW: 2nd
Pasha Mykhaylov - Men 19 & over CB HW: 1st
Amirali Fayazmanesh - Men Open LW: 3rd
Tsuguo Hada - Men Open LW: 1st
Kris Erickson - Men Open HW: 2nd
Michi Nagase - Men Open HW: 1st
Tsuguo Hada - Sprit
Award
Michi Nagase - Technical Award
Officials
Sensei Tats Nakamura
Sempai Curtis Mason
Sempai Alex Kleschelsky
Sempai Mark Ray
Volunteers
Keita Ochiai
Ted Takahashi
Congratulations on everyone and thank
you for your support of the event. Osu.
A group photo with our fighters
(Where were you, Amirali?)
Full Results and photos can be
viewed at