You are currently browsing krisdoublek's articles.
Seira Yahiro (Under 21 Female -53kg)
Round 1 : AUS v Slovakia 1-0 WIN
Round 2 : AUS v Canada 2-0 WIN
Round 3: AUS v Japan 0-2 LOSS
Repecharge 1: AUS v Scotland 0-2 LOSS
Result: Top 16
Shaneel Chand (Under 21 Male -78kg)
Round 1: AUS v Slovakia 0-0 [Loss by decision]
No Repecharge
Arika Kanazawa (Junior Female -53kg)
Round 1: BYE
Round 2: AUS v Norway 4-0 WIN
Round 3: AUS v England 2-1 WIN
Round 4: AUS v Bosnia Herzegovina 0-1 LOSS
No Repecharge
Georgi Georgieff (Under 21 Male +78kg)
Round 1: AUS v Turkey 1-9 LOSS
No Repecharge
Michael Pearn (Under 21 Male -68kg)
Round 1: AUS v Palestine 6-0 WIN
Round 2: AUS v Mexico 0-1 LOSS
No Repecharge
Aaron McMahon (Junior Male -76kg)
Round 1: BYE
Round 2: AUS v Turkey 0-2 LOSS
No Repecharge
Amber Wilson (VIC) (Under 21 Female +60kg)
Round 1: BYE
Round 2: AUS v Slovakia 0-1 LOSS
No Repecharge
Samantha Simion (VIC) (Junior female Kata)
Round 1: BYE
Round 2: AUS v Serbia WIN
Round 3: AUS v China WIN
Round 4: AUS v Peru LOSS
No Repecharge
Rafe Wilson (VIC) (Junior Male Kata)
Round 1: AUS v USA LOSS
No Repecharge
Final Australian Medal Tally:
Kristina MAH - Gold (55-61kg female kumite)
Tommy HALLAM (QLD) – Bronze (70-75kg male kumite)
Megan EDWARDS (WA) – Bronze (+59kg 16-17years female kumite)
What a packed 7 days we had! After landing on Tuesday morning at 7AM after a over 24 hours of travelling… we went straight to the hotel to meet the rest of the team for training at 10AM! The team trained in a small dojo about 15 minutes away from our hotel. Everyone was in high spirits from the get go and this team spirit was built upon as the week progressed.
There were quite a few of us from the Aussie contingent including the President of the Australian Karate Federation, Sensei Michael Kassis, the coaches: Shihan Barounis, Marco Mezzanti from Melbourne, and Stephen Kelly from Brisbane; referees: Jeanette Lynch from Perth, Con Papanikolaou, and Peter Szalsy, also from Perth, and the team manager, Hani Zahra. As well as this, there were our appointed cheer quad of parents and family and of course the team. So a sizeable group who were all looking good, fresh and ready for the competition on the weekend.
The team met twice a day for training and stretching sessions and also for dinner. All this ‘bonding’ time definitely brought everyone closer together as everyone got to know others who they hadn’t previously talked to much at competitions. It was really nice to have everyone together so often and I’m sure the team would agree that this played a big part in building our morale for the weekend ahead.
The competition took place over 2 days, with all the kata events on Saturday as well as some of the Cadets and senior team Kumite events. The kata team were quite successful with John Georgas narrowly missing out on the bronze medal in the Cadet Boys kata, and Rhys Scott, Maki Kamada, Renee Caruso and Sarah Cayed all easily getting through their first rounds.
Unfortunately, none of our teams made it through to medal rounds. Both men’s teams losing in the first round, and the women’s team defeated in the 2nd round.
On Sunday, the rest of the team competed in their individual events.
Shaneel CHAND: Shaneel fought Denmark first. He managed to come back with a sensational mawashi-geri to the head to equalise at 4-4 with him, although lost several points from penalties in the last 30 seconds and was not able to make another come back as the time ticked down. The final score was 4-7.
Kristina MAH: Kristina fought Germany first, easily getting through this round, 5-0. She then fought Denmark, and came out with another win, 4-0. The semi finals was against the Colombian, Lina Marcela Gomez, this was a tough fight, and Kristina pulled off a win of 6-2 to save her a spot for the finals later that day. In the finals, she fought the Croatian, and held out to take out the division with a 3-1 victory.
Matt TICKLE: Matt drew 2 all in his first fight against the Chilean in the Men’s Team event. Unfortunately though, his team lost their round on a count back. In his individual event, he had a BYE in his first round. He went into the second round eager for a fight, and easily defeated the Danish competitor 4 – 0 . In the 3rd round, Matt fought Hungary. The fight was close and even after the extended time, the score remained locked at 0-0. He lost by a flag decision.
The trip was incredibly fun and everyone had an amazing time with great memories to take away from it, as was predicted. With the Junior World Championships on the horizon, there wasn’t much time for celebration (even though the team managed to get through the night with some celebration 
). After a hearty team dinner at our favourite restaurant in Copenhagen, Wagamama, some kicked on in the lobby of the hotel singing songs, and some even performed kata on the city streets, everything met with a lot of laughter and all in all a great note to end the week on.
It was a great trip, even though in some parts quite exhausting, new friendships were formed and old ones reinforced not only with the outstanding unity of the Aussie Team, but also on the international stage, as even the coaches and referees mentioned, the comments from other teams’ coaches and refs about our team spirit throughout the competition.
So now… it’s all eyes on Morocco…
The Australian Team will be attending the Copenhagen Open on the first weekend of October. The majority of the team will be departing Australia on Sunday the 27th September and the rest on Monday the 28th. The competition will host all division from Cadets to Seniors in kata and kumite and ALL the categories will take place and run to completion on Saturday 3 October.
As mentioned in past blog-posts, Shihan Barounis will be travelling with Matt Tickle (+84kg male kumite), Shaneel Chand (-75kg male kumite) and Kristina Mah (-61kg female kumite) who are competing from Miyagi Kan. Not to mention, our training partners and friends: Michael Pearn (-65kg male kumite) and Georgi Georgieff (+84kg male kumite)who are also competing as well as the rest of the Georgieff Family who are coming to be the Aussie cheer squad! Also, Con Papanikolau will be one of the referees at the competition. This will be Con’s first appearance as an international referee at a European competition.
Everyone is looking forward to a successful trip full of emotion and memorable experiences. News and results will be posted here as soon as they are available…
More information about the competition, and possibly up-to-date results are available at http://www.danskkarateforbund.dk/dkf/default.asp?page=465
GOOD LUCK!!
Check out the promo video of the competition
Some news that was reported over the weekend was that Shaneel Chand won a Silver Medal in his division, 70-75kg male kumite in the Sugihara Cup at Auckland.
He fought a competitor from Turkey in the finals, with the final score, 2-6.
CONGRATULATIONS!
-
- NSW Referees
-
- Eddie and Peter
-
- NSW Male Team Kumite
-
- Andrea and Evelina
-
- Opening Ceremony
-
- Dimi, Evelina & Kristina
-
- NSW Referees
-
- Men’s Team
-
- NSW State Team
From the Miyagi Kan camp we are proud of all the competitors this weekend for fighting their hearts out. We had a smaller contingent in the NSW State Team than usual, but of course, there were outstanding results and we only are only looking forward where so much more is on the edge of being achieved.
Results from the competition are as follows:
Nathan Economou: Gold (11 yrs Boys Kumite), Bronze (11-14 yrs Mixed Team Kumite)
Ihaka Nolan: Bronze (63-70kg, Cadet Male Kumite)
Jonnie Economou: Gold (+70kg, Cadet Male Kumite)
Eugene Orlov: Bronze (-52kg, Cadet Male Kumite)
Omar Nourredine: Bronze (-52kg, Cadet Male Kumite)
Arika Kanazawa: Bronze (48-53kg, Junior Female Kumite)
Affif Nourredine: Silver (55-61kg, Junior Male Kumite)
Seira Yahiro: Gold (-53kg, U21 yr Female Kumite), Gold (50-55kg Senior Female Kumite) Gold (U21yr Female Kata), Bronze (Senior Female Open Kumite)
Shaneel Chand: Silver (68-74kg Senior Male Kumite), Silver (65-70kg U21yr Male Kumite)
Tsuneari Yahiro: Gold (Senior Male Open Kumite)
Kristina Mah: Gold (55-61kg Senior Female Kumite), Silver (Senior Female Kata)
Matt Tickle: Silver (+84kg Senior Male Kumite)
Richard Flemming: Bronze (Men’s Veteran Kumite)
Senior Female Team Kumite (Seira Yahiro, Kristina Mah, Olivia Hale): GOLD
Senior Male Team Kumite (Georgi Georgieff, Matt Tickle, Todd Usher, Tsuneari Yahiro, Shaneel Chand): GOLD
The Junior National Team was announced this weekend at “The Dome” in Adelaide. Seira Yahiro was given the awesome responsibility of captaining the team that will compete at the Cadet and Junior WKF Championships in Rabat, Morocco in November later this year.
The Miyagi Kan contingent will consist of:
Seira Yahiro (-53kg under 21yr female kumite)
Shaneel Chand (-70kg under 21yr male kumte)
Arika Kanazawa (-51kg Junior female kumite)
and Shihan George Barounis as coach.
For the people who missed out on selection for this competition, just remember that you will only be stronger, hungrier, and smarter for the next round of National Team Selections. You will have your time and you should continue to work to achieve your goals.
The team for the Copenhagen Open was also re-announced. From Miyagi Kan, there will be:
Shaneel Chand (-74kg Senior male kumite)
Kristina Mah (55-61kg Senior female kumite)
Matt Tickle (+84kg Senior male kumite)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be attending this event and it could be pivotal for the future of karate in the Olympic Games.
(Thank you Petar Georgieff for some of these photos! You are a very reliable documentor!)
Thanks to Alex & Eugene Orlov for the photos!
Presented by…
SUGIHARA CUP, INTERNATIONAL KARATE CHAMPIONSHIP
28TH – 30th August 2009
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
The tournament will is open to children to adult divisions:
Children (6-15yrs) $40.00
Juniors (16 & 17 years old) $45.00
Seniors (18 years and over) $50.00
International Competitors $40.00
Team Kata $15.00 per team
Team Kumite 3×3 14-17yrs $15.00 per team
Team Kumite 3×3 Senior Male and Female $45.00 per team
Prize Money for Selected Senior Male and Female divisions
Seminars
Held by 3 well Known International Instructors including former WKF Champion and Japanese National Coach “NISHIMURA SENSEI”
Friday 28th August 5:30 – 6:30pm Kumite 6:45 – 7:45pm Kumite 8:00 – 9:00pm kumite
August Sugihara Cup Dinner and After Function
Buffet Dinner and dance featuring video footage of the day’s events. Dinner starts 6.30pm at Gengy’s Mongolian Buffet.
Children 4-12 years old $15 13 – 17yrs $25 18yrs + $30
Entry forms must be submitted before 12th August 2009
For more info and entry forms.. go to: http://fushinryukarate.org.nz/calendar.php?content_id=211
Our good friends at S.I.K dojo in Paris have a new site. Check out the gallery and if you’re ever in the city, drop in for a training session or two with the one and only Monsieur Serge CHOURAQUI!
Check out what’s happening across the Tasman at the New Zealand Karate Federation website. They have been added to our blogroll as well!
All the best to Eugene Orlov who is Greece participating in the Youth Cup in Halkida. It’s his first time to represent Australia and we are sure that it will be a great experience for him!
Seira Yahiro represented Australia at this event in 2008, this year the Australian Karate Federation is sending a much larger contingent and Shihan will be there as one of the coaches.
Training karate on the Mediterranean coast in European summer… we’d join you in a second if we could!!
National Coach of the Greek Team, Ioannis Kanellis, and his competitor Spyros Margaritopolous visited the Miyagi Kan dojo on the 12th and 13th of June to conduct seminars for the NSW State Team and the National Team contingent in Sydney.
They were welcomed into the dojo with open arms and motivated athletes eager to get the most out of such a successful coach and competitor. During the training sessions we worked on mostly technical training and an athlete’s training ethic. The seminars were a great success and everyone surely learnt a lot from them.
It was a pleasure for everyone to train and talk with the our guests for the short two and half days that they spent in Sydney. We hope that they had a good trip and that this is the start of a good relationship that will lead to more training seminars in Sydney and maybe one day, even in Greece.
In other news, Spyros competed in the Mediterranean Games at the start of July where he won a bronze medal in +84kg. He will be competing in the World Games in Taipei at the end of the month, where Tsuneari Yahiro will also be competing in. We wish them both the best of luck!!
Below is an article that was published in Neos Kosmos (neoskosmos.com), a Greek-Australian news paper.
“Greek visitors give Australian karate a kick along for the better” (24/06/2009)
Australian Karate received a boost last week with a visit from the coach of the Greek national team Ioannis Kanellis, and Greek national champion Spyros Margaritopoulos.
They were invited by Australian Karate Federation President Michael Kassis to conduct training clinics to aid in the development of young Australian karate students.
“The purpose of bringing them out here was to show us some of the latest techniques that are currently used in various countries that are successful in coming back with medals from the World Championships,” Kassis said.
Their tour took in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. A massively popular sport in Europe, the Greek Karate Federation was founded in 1986, and has been led by Kanellis since then. “There are many things that I want to achieve in karate,” he said. “In Greece I have already achieved many things.”
Kanellis is credited with lifting the stocks of Greek karate. Despite having relatively low participation numbers nationwide, he says that Greek athletes train incredibly hard, and are destined for great things. “From all the competitions that I have seen over my many years, in Europe and at World Championships, we are constantly in the medals,” he says. “We have good athletes competing at the upcoming Mediterranean Games in Italy, and I believe we will take home at least four medals.”
Margaritopoulos is one of his star pupils, who at 26 years old has maintained the number one spot in Greece in his weight division for the last five years. Margaritopoulos considers amongst his career highlights a gold medal at the junior World Championships in 2003, and a silver medal at the senior World Championships in Tokyo.
His ultimate dream however would be to represent his country at the Olympic Games.
“Every athlete’s dream is to participate in this event, so it would be good for me and all the other Greek athletes for karate to make it into the Olympics,” Margaritopoulos said.
Karate is currently under consideration for acceptance into the 2016 Olympic Games, but faces stiff competition for two available spots. Kassis believes that acceptance into the Olympic Games will be the shot in the arm that Australian karate needs to lift it into contention at the highest levels.
“The entire attitude of karate people will change simply because it is an Olympic sport. I feel that training will increase by 70-75%,” he said.
The Australian Karate Open Championships was held in Melbourne in April 17-19.
Team Miyagi Kan consisted of:
Coaches: Shihan Barounis, Richard Morgan, Dean Marshall
Referees: Glenn Goodwin, Mohammed Rajab, Con Papanikolou
Children: TK Nolan, Dean Morgan, Shawn Sivewright
Cadets (14/15 years): Omar Nourredine, Natasha Wood, Eugene Orlov, Ben Morgan, Ihaka Nolan
Juniors (16/17 years): Affif Nourredine, Dan Kanazawa, Arika Kanazawa, Bilan Shanin, Reece Prior
Seniors & Veterans: Seira Yahiro, Shaneel Chand, Matt Tickle, Tsuneari Yahiro, Kristina Mah, Frank Katholos, Foti Barounis, Richard Flemming, John Calcara, Tim Prior
Supporters (yay!): Maria, Lila, Zina, Allek, Zee, Imelda, Sensei Chris, Gaye, Andrew
Everyone gave everything they had, and we had some great results… The first day was for the Kyu Grades, some of the the kids and the veterans. On Saturday the rest of the kids, cadets and juniors hit it out beside the seniors. And on Sunday the finals and prestigious team events were held at another venue. All the results of our club will be posted as soon as we have collected all of them.
Here are some shots (courtesy of Richard Flemming) until we get all the results in to publish!
Here is the promo video that Maria Grazia of X-combat.com made for the competition. I hope this is an omen for more exciting things to come for Karate Australia.
All the black belts with Shihan and Sensei Yamamoto
Some images from the seminar that Sensei Yamamoto gave at the start of the year… sorry it’s taken so long to post them!
It was a fantastic weekend, even though it was 40 degrees outside! But I think everyone had a wonderful time with our Japanese guests and we all wished that they stayed longer!
More exciting news that happened on this weekend is that Shihan Barounis was presented with his 8th Dan Black Belt. Congratulations!
Thank you again to our Japanese Karate Family for coming to visit us and we look forward to the next visit.
I know I don’t speak for myself when I say, I hope we get a chance to train in the dojo in Tokyo soon!
Sensei Yamamoto and Shihan Barounis
4th Dans(and above): Sensei Glenn Goodwin, Sensei John Calcara, Sensei Yamamoto, Shihan George Barounis, Sensei Chris Bishop, Sensei Akis
Well, it certainly has been a long time between updates, and management sincerely apologises for this!
I see that you have been checking out blog out for the past month, waiting for change, and seeing none… So get ready for an onslaught of news.
The 19th WKF Senior World Karate Championships were held in Tokyo in November, and 4 members of our club participated in this event. On the weekend before we left to go overseas, the National Executive took the whole National Team out for dinner. An historical event, since it was the first time that that had ever taken place in the history of the Australian Karate Federation.
The captain of the team was also announced at the dinner, and as it turns out… The captain of the Australian National Team for 2008 is Mr. Fotios Barounis.
Foti was very proud to be the captain of this team and his leadership and support in and out of the competition arena proved his captaincy to be well deserved.
The competitors selected to compete in Tokyo from Miyagi Kan were:
Tui Nolan (Men’s Open)
Foti Barounis (-75kg Men’s Kumite)
Tsuneari Yahiro, and (-60kg Men’s Kumite)
Kristina Mah (-60 female Kumte, Women’s Open Kumite, Women’s Team Kumite)
Shihan was there as National Coach, and we were surrounded for the first time with a cheer squad – Sensei Chris Bishop, Frank, Eleni and Con joined us over the 4 days of competition and were a great support to us over there.
All of the competitors gave it their all, but unfortunately, for another year, the podium has eluded us. We seem so close now, and you have to wonder what’s holding us back! For now it’s back to the drawing boards but all in all we had a wonderful time and experience in Tokyo.
The final results are:
- Tsuneari Yahiro: 2nd Round defeat (Canada)
- Tui Nolan: 2nd Round defeat
- Foti Barounis: 2nd round defeat (Serbia)
- Kristina Mah: 3rd round defeat (Serbia) [-60kg], 2nd round defeat by hantei (Mexico) [open], 1st round defeat (Canada) [women's team]
The results do not reflect the voracity of the athletes on the day, and while the next world championships is still 2 years away, it is not far off to say that these competitors will be a driving force within the Australian karate scene and abroad in 2009.
The Oceania Championships were held from the 12th-14th of September.
Tsuneari Yahiro, Tui Nolan, Zac Protopapas, Foti Barounis, Leon Romary, Shannon Barton
There was a big contingent from Miyagi Kan as usual and we have some great results to report on!
Congratulations to all the Miyagi participants and also to the competitors who trained at our dojo in the lead up to the competition. Everyone fought their hearts out and you should be proud of all your effort.
Arika Kanazawa – GOLD, -53kg 16-7yrs Female Kumite
Tsuneari Yahiro - GOLD, -60kg Senior Male Kumite, GOLD Senior Men’s Team Kumite
Seria Yahiro - GOLD, -59kg 16-17yrs Female Kumite
Foti Barounis – GOLD, -75kg Senior Male Kumite, GOLD Senior Men’s Team Kumite
Tui Nolan – BRONZE, -75kg Senior Male Kumite
Aidan Carr (NZ) - GOLD, 18-21yrs Male Kata; GOLD, -75kg 18-21yrs Kumite; SILVER, Senior Men’s Team Kata; SILVER, Senior Men Team Kumite
Shane Tregidga (NZ) – GOLD, -61kg 16-17ys Male Kumite; GOLD 14-17yrs Male Team Kata; SILVER, Senior Men Team Kata
Thomas Mackie (NZ) – GOLD 14-17yrs Male Team Kata; BRONZE, -70kg 14-15yrs Male Kumite, RBONZE 14-15yrs Boys Team Kumite
Cody Rouse (NZ) – GOLD, 14-17yrs Male Team Kata; SILVER, Senior Men Team Kata, BRONZE -68kg 16-17yrs Male Kumite
Tommy Hallam – BRONZE, -75kg Senior Male Kumite
Waka Nolan - BRONZE, 16-17yrs Male Team Kumite
Michael Economou - GOLD, -68kg 16-17yrs Male Kumite, BRONZE, Cadet Male Team
Georgi Georgieff - BRONZE, 16-17yrs Male Kumite
Kristina Mah – SILVER, -60kg Senior Female Kumite; SILVER, Senior Female Open Kumite, GOLD, Senior Female Team Kumite
Ihaka Nolan -SILVER, 13yrs Boys Kumite
Shaneel Chand – BRONZE, -74kg 18-21yrs Male Kumite
ALSO!!
Let’s not forget our home grown Referees Con Papanikolau and Mohammed Rajab. Both Con and Mohamed upgraded to: Oceania Kumite Judge B. Peter Parasyn upgraded to National Kata Judge A at the Nationals earlier in August, in Perth. Great work!! We need as many of you (on the “other side” as we can get!)
Michelle Wilson, Tash Hardy, Kristina Mah
Waka, Shaneel, Tsuneari, Ihaka
Tui and Tommy
Well done to Sensei Craig Nordstrand the NZ crew for their results at the New Zealand National Karate Championships and also to the boys who were selected for the National Team.
The participants from Miyagi Kan did an awesome job at the NZ National Karate Championships. Miyagi Kan contingent at NZ Nationals included: Thomas MACKIE, Shane TREGIDGA, Cody ROUSE, Vincent ROBSON, Sophia HOTO, Anzac TIPENE, Arnav SHETTY, Asher LAFAELE-EDWARDS.
The Miyagi Kan Medal Tally from the the NZ National Championships stands as follows!
10 GOLD
7 Silver
3 Bronze
Also, following the completion of the Championships, the NZ National Team was announced for the upcoming Oceania Championships. CONGRATULATIONS!!
Aidan Carr
- U21 yrs Male Kata
- Senior Men’s Team Kata
- -75kg Senior Male Kumite
Shane Tregidga
- 14-17 yrs Team Kata
- -61kg Junior Male Kumite
Cody Rouse
- Senior Men’s Team Kata
- 14-16 yrs Male Team Kata
Thomas Mackie
- 14-16 yrs Male Team Kata
- -70kg Male Cadet Kumite
Vincent Robson
- Reserve for U13yrs Boys Kumite
Great work and keep training hard!
Looking forward to meeting up in Auckland very soon!
We are proud to announce the the Miyagi Kan contingent who will represent Australia at the Oceania Championships in September this year in Auckland! Well done!
Not to be forgotten – Good Luck to the kiwis who are trying out for the New Zealand National Team! The team hasn’t been announced over there yet – but we will keep you posted 
Miyagi Kan Representatives:
JUNIORS
Michael Abullah – Cadet Male -63kg
Michael Economou – Junior Male -68kg
Waka Nolan – Junior Male +76kg
Ihaka Nolan – Boys 13yrs
Arika Kanazawa – Junior Female -53kg
Dan Kanazawa – Cadet Male
Seira Yahiro – Junior Female -59kg
SENIORS
Tui Nolan – Men’s -70kg Kumite
Foti Barounis – Men’s -75kg Kumite
Shaneel Chand – Men’s -70kg Kumite
Tsuneari Yahiro – Men’s -60kg Kumite
Kristina Mah – Women’s -60kg Kumite, Women’s Open
Keep in mind that for seniors on the team, the Oceania Championships is the qualification tournament for the prestigious WORLD GAMES. The World Games is held every four years for a broad spectrum of sports. For karate, a chance to compete at this compteition means that you are the representative of your region i.e. Oceania, Europe, North America, South America and Africa OR a place getter at the World Championships the year before. In 2009, the World Games will be held in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. For for info about the World Games, click here.
Medal Tally
23 Gold
10 Silver
17 Bronze
What a tremendous effort from everyone! There were standout performances from all dojos from Sydney, Lismore and New Zealand! A special mention should go to the Junior and Senior Teams…. because these wins were satisfying and brought out the best in us.
CONGRATULATIONS to ALL the competitors for putting in their best performances on the weekend.
It was great to catch up with everyone and it looks like we’ll be seeing you again soon in September for the Oceania Championships.
See the Results page for details of the divisions.
And finally, I am still collecting photos from the weekend to put on the site – if you would like to contribute a photo or two (or more), please don’t hesitate to email them to me: kristina_aus@hotmail.com. Thanks!
