Wow! What a difference a year can make. It was a brisk sunny morning when our Shoseikan team arrived at Capilano College – a much different scene than last year’s early winter snow storm. This year, we had more members attending the tournament at all levels and everyone was confident to achieve a strong showing.

In particular, this was the first tournament for Devin Ohori, Fred Zhang and Boris Yu. It was a memorable experience for all as Devin earned a silver in both kata and kumite while Fred took home a gold in kata and a silver in kumite.  For Boris, who earned a bronze in kata, this tournament inspired him to practice even harder.  “It was a great experience,” he said, “It certainly made me want to work even harder at the dojo.”

The Zone 5 tournament is held every year for clubs around Vancouver and the top 4 competitors in each category moves onto to represent the Zone at the 2008 Karate BC Team Selection Tournament.  Shoseikan is proud to announce that everyone who participated qualified for the Selection Tournament.

Our youngest competitor this time around was Angus Cheung who was in one of the most crowded age categories. After a strong demonstration of Gekisai Ichi, he earned the bronze medal!

One of the highlights of the event was the kumite match that featured two of our member against each other – Eddie Au and Kyle Ohori – in the men 18+ intermediate category.  Heart pounding action filled the three minute match.  It was awfully close as both sides traded points. At the buzzer, the result was a tie which meant that the match went into overtime.  With a lightening quick upper punch, Kyle was awarded the next point and took home the gold medal! Well done to both members for putting on such an entertaining match!

In all, our 11 members took home 20 medals at the tournament.  Congratulations to everyone who competed and good luck at Selection Tournament!

Congratulations to everyone who competed!  You are entering the gates of success. Please keep up your good efforts. To see more photos, please click here.