The 11th Kobe Osaka
International World Cup in Dresden had an all-time record
entry of 1200 competitors from 31 countries. Not only was
this the biggest ever KOI, it was also the largest entry
for any karate competition previously held in Germany. We
are also happy to report that there were very few injuries
and those few were all of a superficial nature. None of
the competitors required hospital treatment. Compared to
many other international competitionsthis is indeed remarkable
and gives credence to KOI's policy of referee and competitor
training prior to the event.We extend our congratulations
to Wolfgang Weigert, President of the Saxon Karate Federation
for hosting such a fantastic championship and to Walter
Sosniok and his team for the organisation. There is a tremendous
amount of work goes into arranging such an event and this
is further complicated by the numbers of visa applications
that are required for many of the foreign groups participating.
SENSEI NAVAL DUTTA
PRACTICING IN INTERNATIONAL KUMITE CAMP
As in previous
KOIs we held four days of training for the karate-ka, competitors,
coaches and referees. The new rules were of course a feature
of much of our training and we held a Shitei Kata training
seminar which was taught by Senseis Tommy Morris, Steve
Morris, Richard Lim, Javier Mantilla, Loh Beng Hooi and
Jaap Smaal.
Richard Callaghan
assisted by fellow Australian Marco Mazzanti and Alister
MacAlister (Scotland) again demonstrated their superlative
kumite skills and showed everyone once again why they are
asked to teach for KOI year after year. In addition to the
myriad innovative training methods and combination techniques
they explained tactical application of the new competition
rules and demonstrated some of the throwing techniques which
can now be used. This was an event which will be in all
our memories for many years to come.
Due to the sterling
efforts of Walter Sosniok and his team, the referees, judges,
table officials and Angela Morris, we managed to process
1200 competitors in a day and a half. Considering that this
was the first big international karate event held in Dresden
it was a surprisingly large turnout and very well organised.
Kata
The kata judging using flags and double elimination was
just as popular this year as it was last year and was pronounced
a great success. It is quite clear that we could never have
gotten through the number of kata competitors that we did
using the old scorecard system.
OPEN CHAMPION
OF THIS YEAR ALSO WKF & EUROPEAN CHAMPION. IT WAS REALLY
WORTH WATCHING HIS BOUT, WHERE HE DISPLAYED SOME OF THE
FINEST COMBINATIONS AND PERFORMED SO EASILY FOR SURE RESULT.
Officials
A special vote of thanks to all the referees and judges
who worked so hard especially on Saturday 20th July when
there was virtually no time to rest all day and to all the
table officials for a good job well done. Thanks once again
to our internationally qualified referees, Klaus Sterba,
Roland Lowinger, Wolfgang Weigert and Gudrun Hisatake from
Germany, Oliver Brunton from Northern Ireland, Peter Ciesielski
from Poland, Primoz Debenak from Slovenia, Loh Beng Hooi
from Sabah, Javier Mantilla from Venezuela, Jaap Smaal from
Netherlands, Alister MacAlister from Scotland, Sergey Sokolovski
from Russia, Chien Kou Yen from Chinese Taipei and Mohammad
Ali Mardani from Iran who together with their other KOI
and German colleagues all helped to keep things on track
under pressure.
Team Leaders
A big thank-you to all the team leaders and heads of delegation
for their continued support and all the effort they made
to bring the competitors to Germany. However we must record
here the tremendous effort put in by Kamil Musin, President
of Kobe Osaka Russia. The Russian National Karate Federation
has recently gone through tremendous changes and Kamil has
been heavily involved and yet still found time to organise
the biggest single group of foreign competitors to come
to Germany, some 70 plus people in all. With such great
competitors as Tsoukanov, Prikatchikova and Novintchanova
they once again topped the medals table. Watch out for young
Apti Daoudov; with two gold medals in Kumite and Kata to
his credit at only 12 years old he will be a real force
to be reckoned with in the future.
Big groups were
also brought by Dr. Murad Assem from the National Sporting
Club in Cairo and Mohammad Ali Mardani from Iran. We would
like to thank Fritz Oblinger for the continued support of
the Bavarian Karate Federation and to Nurkon Nafasov for
all the effort put into bringing the competitors from Uzbekistan.
Richard Lim and Juan Carlos Veguilles brought a big group
from the Philippines for the first time and they took home
a lot of medals. KOI main groups and their representatives
who took part were:
Australia; Richard Callaghan, Marco
Mazzanti
Belgium; Freddy and Junior Lefevre
Bulgaria; Petrozar Sholev
Chinese Taipei; Hsieh Fu-Hsiu and Shin-Shin Pan
Egypt; Dr. Murad Assem
England; Trevor Edge, Brian Wilson, Ken & Andrew Collingwood,
John Dalton, Nariman Jeddi
Germany; Wolfgang Weigert, Walter Sosniok, Roland Lowinger,
Klaus Sterba, Fritz Oblinger, Jan Geppert
Hong Kong; David Sung Ka Kui and Wai Kai Fung
India; Naval Datta
Iran; Mohammad Ali Mardani
Ireland; Peter Coyle
Italy; Gina Ragazzo
Latvia; Andris Vasiljevs
Malaysia and Sabah; Loh Beng Hooi
Morocco; Mohammed Essalki
Netherlands; Jaap Smaal
New Zealand; Stella Lenihan
N. Ireland; Oliver Brunton
Philippines; Richard Lim and Juan Carlos Veguilles
Poland; Piotr Ciesielski
Russia; Kamil Musin
Scotland; Steven Morris and Alister MacAlister
Slovenia; Primoz Debenak
Uzbekistan; Nurkon Nafasov
Venezuela; Javier Mantilla
Vietnam; Pham Quoc Trong
Wales; Mike Mainwaring and Lee Costa
There were also competitors from
Austria, Kazakhstan and Romania.
WITH SOME OF THE MOST SEINOR INSTRUCTORS
WORLDWIDE
Apologies
Not unexpectedly we had apologies from some of our member
groups who were unable to get their visas in time and consequently
were unable to attend. Team leaders should remember that
they must apply in plenty of time if they need visas, otherwise
they and their competitors may be disappointed.
Course Instructors
Our sincere thanks to the course instructors for giving
so willingly of their time over a great four days; Tommy
Morris, Steve Morris, Richard Callaghan, Loh Beng Hooi,
Alister MacAlister, Marco Mazzanti, Javier Mantilla, Richard
Lim, Jaap Smaal, Kamil Musin.
Next Year
The venue for next year's 12th KOI has not yet been finalised,
we are still considering Greece or Croatia. Details will
be posted on-site probably in October.
HERE ARE SOME PHOTOGRAPHS OF HAPPY
TIME AND MEMORIES PLEASE SHARE WITH US
SENSEI NAVAL FOURTH FROM LEFT WITH
TEIPEI TEAM
SENSEI NAVAL WITH SENSEI TOMMY
MORRIES & CHIEF OF BABHA MALASYIA
YES !!!! IT WAS REALLY BEAUTIFULL
TO SEE PLACES IN DRESDEN
