Karate news

21st Kyokushin Anniversary Tournament - 03.10.06 - Part 1

06/10/2006

THE Seychelles Kyokushin karate school hosted an international open knock-down tournament last Saturday at Victoria Gymnasium to celebrate its 21st anniversary.

The tournament, which saw the participation of a South African team, was assisted by a big crowd among whom were the Minister for the Arts, Culture and Sports Sylvette Pool, her principal secretary Denis Rose, advisor Patrick Nanty and shihan Kenny Uytenbogaardt, the chairman of IKO Africa who also headed the South African delegation.

In his opening speech, local branch chief, shihan Phillip Moustache, flashed back through the 21 years of existence of the local Kyokushin school and proudly said that the level of fighting has improved and will continue to improve. He added that it is always the spirit of Kyokushin that counts and not the medals or trophies.

The tournament started with the Lion Cubs category were Jean-Luc Gabriel was invincible. After winning his fight in the semifinal against Armaan Shah, Gabriel overcame Hubert Dine who needed an extension round to beat Ivans Labrosse in the other semifinal.

In the Young Lions ‘B’ category, Mervin Hoareau displayed some impressive qualities to win against Joliff Laurence in the final. Following his semifinal victory over South African Isaac, it was obvious throughout the bout that Mervin Hoareau had the extra touches required to overcome Laurence who beat Steven Julienne in the other semifinal.

In the Young Lions ‘A’ category, Freddy Hipolite was unbeatable as he dominated the category. After defeating Jonathan Sam in the quarterfinal, Hipolite eliminated Steven Rosalie who had earlier beaten South African Aanrich Langeveldt. In the final, Hipolite battled against Dereck Meriton who had eliminated Kenneth Port-Louis in the semifinal.

Very agile and precise in his moves, Hipolite put on a good show as he went on to win the final.



In the female team event, the Seychellois karatekas were far more superior than the South Africans. In the first bout, Alexandra Benoiton dominated South African Nikita Cara who put up almost no resistance. In the other bout, Rina Lavigne showed no pity for Jyoti Cara, winning easily to give Seychelles the title.



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