JYOSHINMON SHORIN-RYU

There were 8 Jyoshinmon members selected for the 17th Oceania Karate Championships, which was held in New Caledonia. We congratulate their great effort and achieving 6 medals including Gold won by Senpai Sevita Laufoli!

For most of our team it was their first experience of international championships abroad, and the competition much more fierce particularly for Senpai Jose Castillo and Mason Stewart, who fought the best he has done this year. Unfortunately for Senpai Ross Laufoli, there were no other competitors in his Junior Kumite Male -61kg category, so a combined weight category was created. Although not an official OKF category, Senpai Ross got to compete and he was also part of the Junior Kumite Male Team who got third place.

Congratulations too for Sensei Jason Ng who passed his Oceania Karate Federation Referee Accreditation!

Sensei Chris Bennett was one of the 4 main Karate New Zealand Coaches, and was a pillar of support for the whole team during the training sessions and especially at the 3-day tournament. At the Sayonara party, the biggest surprise was when Minh Dack (Silver World Medallist in Senior Male Kata) recalled the 1997 New Zealand Open when Sensei Chris beat him in Kata. This made his evening!

A huge thank you to the parents and those who provided support in getting our members to Noumea, and they very much enjoyed the event as it was also their first experience going with the New Zealand team and watching them perform the Haka. All Kiwi supporters were one big karate family as they cheered for all the NZ competitors.

The 18th Oceania Karate Championships in 2018 will be hosted by New Zealand in Auckland. Participants at all OKF events will attain points towards Olympic qualification in Tokyo 2020. Since the team's return, they are more fired up with continued training in preparation for next year's Seniors-Only Oceania Karate Championships to be held in Australia.

Here are our team's results: