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The tournament started with the kids division. We saw lots of
great non-contact bouts. After the non-contact division ended
there was a 30 minute intermission for lunch. That was when Stas
and I started warming up. After brief stretching and light pad
work we went back to watch some of the children contact fights. A
few hours later Kris arrived and helped us warm up more
thoroughly.
The first fighter up was me. My opponent was only an
white
belt
but he had a big weight and height advantage over me. At first I
was very nervous during the fight. About half-way through the
fight I was getting pushed back by my opponent’s strong punches.
But that’s when I heard Kris yelling at me to keep going so I
threw as many gedan mawashi-geri’s as I could and it backed him
up. Although I won that match, my left instep and shin were
damaged and I had to get ice immediately after the round. Up next
was Stas’ fight. Stas had good knee kicks but his opponent charged
him with many uppercuts forcing Stats to move back. Half way into
the fight Stats opponent had won a waza-ri from throwing many
uppercuts. Stats got back up and continued the fight. Even though
he lost, the fight gave him a very good experience as this was
only his second tournament.
Right after Stas fight, the second round of matches began and I
was up. When the match began my opponent came up to me and I threw
a gedan mawashi-geri as hard as I could, he fell down and couldn’t
get back up, giving me an Ippon. In the semi-finals I had to fight
Jordan Forget from Calgary dojo. He was really good but my low
kicks caught him and helped me win. The final match for the 15-16
boys division was me against a white belt I had never seen before.
He had an obvious weight advantage over me and had strong punches.
I was pushed out of bounds a couple of times by his
powerful uppercuts.
Half way into the fight, I was beginning to read his moves more
clearly and to counter most of his techniques. During the last 10
seconds of the fight my low kicks were starting to take effect but
I had run out of time. Because of the scores he earned in the
first half of the match, he was awarded with the win. Although I
lost, this fight brought me a tremendous confidence in fighting
against a big fighter.
Kris’s fight wasn’t till end of the day but was one of the most
anticipated fights. His first opponent couldn’t fight due to
injury so Kris was automatically sent to the finals against Sempai
Shawn Phillips from Newton dojo. Kris totally controlled the fight
and kept forcing
his opponent
out of bounds. During the last 30 second
Kris threw a high knee kick to the chin. Sempai Shawn was shaken
but quickly recovered. After the 3 minutes were up Kris was
awarded a win 4-0.
I would like to thank Sempai Eddy and his club members for the
opportunity they gave us. I would also like to thank Sensei Tats
for driving me all the way to Penticton. Finally, I would like to
thank Stas and his parents, Haoyin, Michi, Johnny, Sempai Joel,
Sempai Alex, Keita, Shogo and all the other VKK members for
helping me train and teaching me new techniques. I will keep
training hard for the Canadian Championships in May.
OSU!
Albert Tio
Vancouver Kyokushin Karate
Final Results:
Stas Looukiunov (Boys 15-16 Division): Lost at 1st Rd
Albert Tio (Boys 15-16 Division): 2nd
Kris Erickson (Open Division): 1st
Official Results will be soon posted on
kyokushin.ca |
