On April 29 – 30, the 4th Kata World Championship
of the Kyokushin-kan International karatedo organization, International Veterans Tournament in Kumite, All Japan Championship and Youth Championship in Kumite and Kata took place in the Sports Center of Toda city (Japan, Saitama Prefecture).
On April 29 – 30, the 4th Kata World Championship of the Kyokushin-kan International karatedo organization, as well as International Veterans Tournament in Kumite, Japan Kata Championship among Women, men and women, All Japan Youth Championship in Kumite and Kata and All Japan Men’s Kumite Championship by weight categories (in the categories -65kg, -75kg, -85kg, + 85kg), which should result in the formation of the national team of Japan for the 3rd World KWU Championship, took place in the Sports Center of Toda city (Japan, Saitama Prefecture).
In total, 820 athletes from 15 countries took part in the competitions. Russia was represented by the teams of the Kyokushin-kan Karate-do Federation of Russia and the Khabarovsk organization of Kyokushinkai Federation of Russia (IFK).
At the 4th Kyokushin-kan Kata World Championship six medals were to be awarded to best men and women categories. In both categories the places from the 1st to the 3rd were once again taken by the Japanese. Among women Okazaki Sana became the new world champion, Hasunuma Mei is on the 2nd place, and Koike Yukiko on the 3rd. Among men Yokozawa Taku became the world champion, Yokozawa Sho is on the 2nd place, and Yamashita Kotaro on the 3rd.
Russian girls Anna Topchiyants, Bayirta Manzhikova and Polina Filatova (all from Moscow) took places from the 4th to the 6th. And Boris Gertsman from St. Petersburg won the 5th place among men. Also Bayirta Manzhikova once again became the world champion in tameshiwari. The coach of the national team is Deserved Coach of the Russian Federation shihan Natalia Demchenko.
The 4th Kyokushin-kan Kata World Championship once again showed that kata competitions at a high level require many years of tireless training with the utmost concentration. Real skill can not be achieved in a short time (say, in a few years). A relatively young Japanese team has an average length of training about 20 years.
In the competitions of the All Japan Youth Kumite Championship the team of the Kyokushin-kan Karate-do Federation of Russia won 3 gold medals (Roman Merkle, Michael Merkle, Gleb Marchenko), 2 silver medals (Maxim Verbin, Bogdan Miasnikov) and 2 bronze medals (Gennady Popov, Alexander Novikov).
The results of the athletes of Khabarovsk IFK organization FKR are being specified, but Khabarovsk competitors also won awards of all merits.
The spectators of the competition once again witnessed an astonishing demonstration of the blind karateka Takada Koichi. This time, Takada demonstrated a series of techniques from karate and kobudo repertoireof Kyokushin-kan and his interpretation of the techniques of Uchida-ryu tanjojutsu with cane. Truly, human being possibilities are limitless!