Karatedo Shitokai New Zealand

The Hamilton Open was another large and well attended event, with over 160 entries, making it a long and tiring day for everyone, particularly the referees and officials who were worked very hard and very little time to rest between events. Robbie Smith and his team of helpers ran an excellent event so a vote of thanks to all referees and officials involved.

For Shitokai New Zealand, our outstanding performer was Matthew Baird’s Gold medal in the hotly contested division Senior Men's Kata with Matthew performing a well executed Chatanyara Kushanku in the final. Matthew continues his steady improvement, as he works towards hopefully, making the NZ team to the Commonwealth Karate Champs in Sydney in July 2011.

Nicky Roberts had to settle for a disappointing Silver in the Senior Women's Kata, with a bad foot fault in the final, causing her to temporarily lose balance while performing Chatanyara Kushanku. Again, most uncharacteristic for Nicky, as she prides herself in her presentation and performance, but no excuses from Nicky, just back to the drawing board and more hard training to make sure it does not happen again.

Matt Burns from our Kamo branch club also had a successful day, winning Silver in the Junior Men's kata, Junior Men -70kg Kumite and Bronze in the Junior Men's Open Kumite.

Joseph Faithfull won Silver in the Cadet Male development Kata and Zara Wech won Bronze in the Female Cadet -55kg Kumite.

Overall, a very successful competition result with plenty of hard training to come, to improve on these.

Results Table
Matthew Baird, Gold in Senior Men's
Nicky Roberts, Silver in Senior Women's
Matt Burns, Silver in Jounior Men's Kata, Silver in Junior Men's -70Kg Kumite and Bronze in Junior Men's Open Kumite
Joseph Faithfull, Silver in Cadet Male Development Kata