2024 DAGEKI - World Full-Contact Karate Championships, Montreal QC
May 18th, 2024
Our team participated with 12 competitors and 2 coaches in the biggest competition in North America. Over 600 competitors from 16 countries gathered for a full day of action in kata and kumite ranging from as young as 5 years old up to 50 plus years old.
It was a challenging competition, as one should expect from a world-level tournament.
Japan, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Poland, and Chile had very strong teams, but Canada also showed really good performance. Our team, I believe, did as expected with a few surprises and challenges, but overall, I think we performed honorably.
Here are the results: 5 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze.
Robert Fogarasi 1st Place Kata
Alexa Fogarasi 1st Place Kata
Thomas Wharton-Hood 1st Place Kata
Anatole Kondratenko 1st Place Kumite
Dany Krief 1st Place Kumite
Thomas Wharton-Hood 2nd Place Kumite
Quinlan Van 3rd Place Kata
As I mentioned, we had some challenges. In the Elite Kata divisions, the competition was very tough. Japan, Brazil, and Kazakhstan took the podium, but we managed to secure 6th place with Seiji Ueda, 7th place with Connor Van, and 7th Place with Kyla Van.
The divisions were stacked, up to 22 competitors.
It is worth mentioning that Kyla Van was the 2nd Canadian after Japan, Brazil, and Kazakhstan, and Ueda was the only one who advanced to the second round.
Roxy was faced with the hardest division of her career. She will come back stronger next time.
In the kumite divisions, we had mixed results, but everyone did their best.
Thomas had a great performance but lost the final by judges' decision.
Anatole dominated all his 3 fights and secured 1st place.
Nikita did his best this tournament, and we see improvement with each competition, he even performed high kicks that had never happened before, just more work needed for the right attitude to gain the big win.
Jag had a decent performance but needs to work more on his skills.
Senpai Dany had his challenge also. He got punched in the face multiple times with illegal techniques, one leading to the fight being stopped and his opponent being disqualified. Senpai Dany recovered and was awarded the victory.
I would like to point out that our team presented themselves with honor and respect. We showed great sportsmanship and kept a humble attitude.
In Martial Arts, winning and losing are just different ways for learning, and we always must keep a humble and respectful attitude. As Karateka, we must work on tempering our ego and never forget that a trophy and winning or losing is not the end result of our training.
Competition is just a way to challenge ourselves but does not fully represent our value as a Martial Artist.
Well done Team CKMA!
Shihan Steve and Senpai Mici.
Osu
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