Two members of the Belize Karate Association, and part of the National Karate Team which competed in Nicaragua during the period March 19-25, last week, qualified as Class B Kumite Judges and Referees of the Panamerican Karate Federation, as reported earlier; and congratulations are due to David Diego of Cayo Shotokan Karate Belmopan and Estevan Mossiah of Belize City Centre Karate Dojo in this regard.
On the flip side, the National Karate Team fought well, but were decisively beaten in their attempt to qualify for the Panamerican Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, being held in July 2007. The performance of Belize’s kumite fighters did attract positive support from many of the other nations’ coaches, who opined that the Belizean fighters simply needed more frequent international competition. One illustration is that of Leon Guild, 75 kgs. range fighter, who was ahead of his Panamanian opponent, Alberto de Uniola, by 6 points to 2, before the gap was narrowed 6-5, then went on to lose the match, while trying to hold on to his lead and retreating off the mat in the last 10 seconds, thus being disqualified. Previously, Guild had barely lost 1 – 0 to highly rated Nelson Gonzalez of Puerto Rican opposition.
In round 1, Belizean James Wallace lost 3-2 to Mexican Homero Morales, then Wallace defeated his Costa Rican counterpart, Pablo Cruz, 6-5, to set up a battle for third place against the excellent Cuban fighter, Midiet Roque, who put Wallace out, to eventually take first place in the group. Belize’s Anthony Lord recovered from stage fright on the first day of competition, to put up stern resistance on the second day; but lost 3-0 against Luis Torrealba of Venezuela, and also suffered facial injury, requiring stitches for his efforts.
Mervin Reyes of San Pedro Shotokan could be called Belize’s “Mad Max” for his toe to toe ‘no retreat, no surrender’ style of fighting, but lost 5-2, anyway, to Venezuela’s Mario Toro. Three of four Belizean fighters came close to winning the bronze in kumite, but fell short of the glory. In the kata competition, unfortunately, neither Rito Fernandez nor Tara Holder was able to advance.
The competition to appear in Brazil came from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Cayman Islands, as well as Belize. It is noteworthy that in the exchange of information that usually takes place at these events among team coaches, it was learned that the Mexican National Karate Team attended 15 international competitions in the past year, and had just returned from one such in France.
Thus, Team Coach Herman Pastor believes that the lessons of this Nicaraguan test must not be lost, but absorbed in training, and that the National Team must next turn their attention urgently to beefing up their international competition track record, by attending the next World Karate Federation Championships in Mexico City come May 2007. There is also, of course, the matter of Sensei Frank McKenzie’s promise of a cake eating exercise regarding a certain black belt. Catering volunteers welcome.
– press release –