Karate: Reunion international Kyokushin tournament-Dingwall finishes third |06 October 2012
A group of four karatekas from the Kyokushin karate school took part in the event which
The event was held under the patronage of current Kyokushin grandmaster Kancho Shokei Matsui 8th dan.
Also present during the event were two international committee members – Shihan Kenny Uytenbogaardt 7th dan who is also the chairman of Kyokushin in Africa, and Shihan Katsuhito Gorai 6th Dan who is the International Karate Organisation (IKO) secretary general. Local branch chief Shihan Phillip Moustache 6th dan, who is responsible for the Indian Ocean region, was also present as the tournament’s chief referee.
The female and male karatekas competed in six categories according to their ages. Seychelles’ only representative was Dingwall while the other fighters were preparing to sit for their exams and could not make it.
Organised by Sempai Jean Luc Vedapodagom, the Kyokushin representative in Reunion, the tournament was fought under IKO’s knockdown rules for youths. Kancho Matsui was the tournament’s supreme judge.
Dingwall, who was competing in his first international tournament, won a bye to the semifinal where he lost to an opponent from Reunion who scored with two high kicks to the head to earn two waza-aris (half points).
Prior to the tournament, Senseis Phillip Verghese and Francis Françoise undertook exams for their official international certification as associate referee and judge respectively.
They also did a grading exam for their 5th dan black belt under Kancho Matsui and they await their results. After the tournament all four karatekas took part in a training seminar conducted by Kancho Matsui.