After a long and tiring weekend we have results from the National Championships at the Richmond Olympic Oval. We definately had home field advantage this time, with a huge team and lots of spectators supporting the BC Team, and the over 20 athletes we had representing Burnaby Karate Academy.
National Champions
Senior
Shaun Dhillon +84kg Mens
Jusleen Virk - 50kg Womens
Cody Martin -60kg Mens
Junior
Derek Chan -61kg 16/17 Boys (successfully defended his title)
Derek Chan -68kg 18-20 Boys
Isabel Chan -47kg 14/15 Girls (successfully defended her title)
Cedomir Vasic +76kg Boys (first time National Champion!)
Silver Medals
Aya Kitaoka 14/15 +54kg Girls
Reid Lofstrom 16/17 +59kg Girls
Jusleen Virk 18-20 -53kg Girls
Bronze Medals
Brenden Ly 14/15 +70kg Boys
Arash Beytoei Mens Open Weight
Harpreet Sidhu 16/17 +59kg Girls
Dylan Robinson 18-20 -78kg Boys
A special Congratulations has to go to our 3 Senior National Champsions, the first time we have received this many champions in the adult categories since 1999! All three are slated to attend the Pan American Championships in Nicaragua in May. Arash has also been invited to Madrid, Spain in April to attend a special exhibition tournament which include teams from Spain, Japan and Turkey as a result of his excellent performance in the open weight categories.
Finally a great performance from Aya Kitaoka, who at 13 years old and green belt has been able to qualify for the Junior Pan American Championships in Cancun in August. Aya just recently won gold at the BC games at the end of February in the 12/13 category and stepped up to some steep competition this weekend. Cedomir, Jusleen, Izzy, Reid and Derek have also qualified for the Junior Pan Ams as well.
I am extremely proud of our team, who represented our dojo and province with courage, honor and a sense of fairplay and sportsmanship. I hope this is another step in creating a strong program in our city as well as all of British Columbia!
Great job everyone that helped prepare the athletes, the parents for all your support and the students who have pushed us to keep our level high!