Karate: Tang Soo Do National Championship-Simara and Victor voted best karatekas |13 December 2008
Not only did he win the best karateka title, Simara also went home with the instructor of the year title. Ralph Micock won the student of the year award and Martin Cedras captured the master’s cup.
In the male junior division one category, Hezron Barra was first in sparring. Joshua Dine finished second and Jeremie Simara was third. It was a completely different affair in kata with Dine taking first position, while Simara and Barra took second and third places.
Lissa Faure was first in sparring in the female junior division two, relegating Lyanne Emmanuel into second place. In kata, the two karatekas exchanged position.
In the male junior division three, Jordan Simara was ranked first in both sparring and kata, while Anthony Jeremie finished second.
First place overall in the male junior division four went to Matthew Toule as he won both the sparring and kata. Michael Bristol finished second and Jean-Pierre Bristol was third.
Wilven Adelaide dominated the male junior division five by winning both events. Richard Victor was second in sparring and third in kata, while Marcel Pool was the runner-up in kata.
In sparring in the female junior division six, Naisha Alcindor was too good for her opponents to finish first ahead of Steffie Mathiot (runner-up) and Dorothy Julie (third place finisher).
Vanessa Bristol’s performance in kata won her first place, relegating Mathiot and Emmalyn Hertel into second and third positions.
The male black belt holders competed in three events – sparring, kata and hyung weapon (kata with weapon).
Danny Emmanuel took the gold medal in sparring in front of Dan Simara and Barry Emmanuel. Simara dominated the kata event to finish ahead of Jean-Paul Philo and James Faure, who was later ranked first in kata with weapon. The remaining two places in this category went to Danny Emmanuel and Martin Cedras.
I. H.