The Venue - Sports Authority of India Complex, Mumbai.

 

The purpose of this event was and is to build friendship and understanding among our students, cultivate mutual respect, to provide quality competition and foster exchange of Shotokan Karate techniques and education, which eventually would strength Shotokan Karate in India

 

On the onset, I did like to offer my deepest gratitude to all those Shotokan Senseis without whose co-operation and support this championship would not have been possible, Sensei Anil Patil (IJKA) Sensei Yogendra Sharma ( SKIF), Sensei Raju Raykar (SIKF), Sensei Ratan Gharu (KWF-India), Sensei Amit Shah (ASK) are the first to have understood the motive behind this championship and agreed to participate, and that too in large numbers.

 

We had Sensei Koichiro Okuma-JKA Hq Instructor (6th Dan) as the “Master Chief Judge” for these 2 days. With this championship and Okuma Sensei's guidance, it was a good opportunity to enhance our knowledge in tournament management and technical matters of competition karate.

 

A 3 days special training for Judges & Referees had been charted for this very reason during our National Camp prior to this championship (9th to 11th Jan 2013-GCC Club, Mumbai)

 

Categories were bifurcated for Boys, Girls, Men, Women from under 9 years on to under 14 years, 15 yrs - 19 yrs & above 19 years (seniors), Team events too were; as usual, included in the events lists of Kata & Kumite.

 

Since the tournament rules to be observed were of JKA, it was a bit difficult for Non JKA participants, but they whole-heartedly and in true Shotokan spirit did their best and merited in most categories, which very much served our purpose.

 

We sincerely apologies to Instructors, parents and participants for any inconvenience caused during the course of events, which please believe were unintentional and must have occurred due to unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances, but also please rest assured, that we have analyzed those errors and are committed not to repeat them in our future endeavors.

 

We are grateful to all those students and parents from various Shotokan organizations who volunteered to assist us as in many miscellaneous duties.

 

I personally wish to thank Okuma Sensei for assisting and guiding us in various matters in these 2 days; his valuable recommendations have always been fruitful to us and am sure many senior members and judges must have benefited from his teachings.

 

Lastly, I hope the youngsters must have learnt and observed a lot in these two days, and am sure they must have understood our goals and motives for Shotokan Karate, I request them and the parents to spread our message around and practice Shotokan Karate in its true spirit as espoused by Sensei Funakoshi Gichin and Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama.

 

Oss!

 

Milan Trivedi
Chief Instructor - JKA India