This has been an exciting year for Kyokushin karateka in Australia! Even though politics and egos still strangle Oyama Sosai’s legacy there were some events of cooperation that showcased the strength of Kyokushin karate. Shihan Judd Reid presented two thrilling tournaments, Shihan Cameron Quinn’s seminars are always fantastic opportunities for learning and growing in Kyokushin karate and martial arts, Shihan Maria Gibilisco-rich presented the Arnold Classic Kyokushin Tournament, Shihan Daniel Trifu presented an international challenge match, bringing to Australia the 2015 IKO World Champion Zahari Damyanov. Then of course there were the various State and National Tournaments of which the three big ones were the AKKA, Hanshi John Taylor, the Shinkyokushin/ AFKO, Shihan Peter Volke and to a lesser extent the IKO Matsui Group lead by Shihan Trevor Tockar. Finally, what is Kyokushin karate without its gashukus or training camps? One of the most exciting events was the camp in Anglesea where Shihan Judd Reid brought together Shihan Cameron Quinn, Gary O’Neill and Peter Graham!
I will discuss Shihan Judd Reid’s tournaments first as in my opinion these are the events that really showcased the highest level of current Kyokushin fighters in Australia. The Eight man Eliminator was held on Saturday 1st June and saw Dan Vtracic become the champion with Dean Poly as runner up. It was a well presented event and also had in attendance long time Kyokushin Shihans like James Phillips and Eddie Emin. The event was live streamed and I was able to watch it directly. Except for the poor referees decision against young Nathan Phillips, overall the judging was fair. It was also great to see a Kudo fight, as we are in the era of MMA, Kudo will continue to grow as a more integrated form of martial art.
The success of this event generated the excitement for Shihan Judd’s next surprise! Australia vs Japan! Wow, this was definitely the tournament of the year! The fighters draw can be seen on Shihan Reid’s facebook page…it produced exciting fights which often resulted in the narrowest of victories for the winners. There were 10 fights in total and Japan came out the victors winning all the matches. It was difficult to pick favourites but in my opinion the best 3 fights were: Nassar Kassab vs Jo Miyahara, Mohammad Rezaie vs Yuta Goto and Nathan Phillips vs Yuta Nagata. The KO of the evening went to Gentaro Ishino for his jodan uchi mawashi over Michael Dent.
I attended both the AKKA (Matsushima) NSW State Titles and Nationals. Hanshi John Taylor presented a good quality level of Kyokushin full contact karate. Two fighters who really impressed me were Samuel Shields and Mohammad Rezaie. These two battled in the final of the State Titles with Mohammad victorious at the end of the fight. At the Nationals Samuel Shields won his division and Mohammad narrowly got the decision over his opponent, (whose name slips me, but he is definitely a top Australian heavyweight!) in the Open weight final. I also had the pleasure of meeting Shihan Tony Bowden! He was the Australian heavyweight and overall champion many times over and was famous along with Shihan Kawabata for their epic battle in the Second World Open Tournament in 1979.
I had the privilege of refereeing at the State Titles of the Shinkyokushin and Zen Kyokushin groups. In preparation I attended the referees seminar which was presented by Shihan David Jacobs at the Artarmon dojo of Sensei Yasunari Yahiro. This tournament produced another good display of Kyokushin karate’s tough action. Young Nathan Phillips produced a thunderous ippon with a jodan mawashi geri! Visiting Japanese fighter, Rika Hasegawa, showcased her talents in easily overpowering her competitors to win the Women’s Open division. I was also pleasantly surprised to meet up with Richard Hood of New Zealand. We met up in the first round of the Men’s Open division in the First World Weight Category Tournament in Tokyo 1997. Richard fought well showing his power had not faded much over the past 21years! Again there were several Shihans from Oyama Sosai’s Kyokushin days in attendance and I finally caught up with Shihan John Williams. I met him via Shihan Kenny Uytenbogaardt in Japan around 1995, these two gentlemen were the tallest Branch Chiefs! At the AFKO Nationals I again had an opportunity to referee and also to do a demonstration. The event was well presented and Shihans Peter Volke and David Jacobs kept a watchful eye over the proceedings. Again I have to thank Sensei Yasunari Yahiro for providing me with the opportunity to do a tameshiware demonstration. I was well assisted by Sensei Alex Kocic, Sempai’s Jacob Camelli and Davey Loo.
The year kicked off with the Arnold Classic presented by Shihan Maria in Melbourne. Some top fighters were in action like Jacob Comelli, Dean Poly, Hamid Zandi and Tautvydas Sniaukas. Another event that was well received was the one off match presented by Shihan Daniel Trifu. The 2015 IKO Group World Champion Zahari Damyanov brought along a tough Bulgarian fighter Kristiyan Doychev. Doychev punished Zandi over the entire match, but credit to Zandi’s fighting spirit as the much younger Doychev could not score any points. Doychev won by unaminous decision over Zandi, with Peter “The Chief” Graham appointing him as the winner. This event was presented as a Kyokushin World Super league title match. The IKO Matsui Organisation also had their Nationals. Surprisingly the powerful and experienced Lucas Joe Reihana McKinnon did not win this event. I did not attend and besides the final, no other videos surfaced, so it was difficult to tell what happened and to assess the level of presentation and fighting. Certainly when I saw the New Zealand Powerhouse in action in Brisbane at the 2016 IKO Nationals, all his opponents ran away from him. Only the experienced Brazilian fighter Dinei Junior managed to get a draw before going down early in the extension.
An absolute highlight of the year was the camp hosted by Shihan Judd Reid at Anglesea. The highest caliber of Kyokushin elite fighters and knowledge was there! Shihan Cameron Quinn, Gary O’Neill and Peter “The Chief” Graham. Hopefully this camp will be a yearly event giving Australian karateka the best opportunity to learn and develop themselves under such excellent instructors. Both Shihans Cameron and Judd continue to give seminars across Australia providing the opportunities for people to experience real Kyokushin excellence!
The top Australian fighters for this year in my evaluation and in no particular order, are: Mohammad Rezaie, Dan Vtracic, Alex Kocic, Jacob Comelli, Hamid Zandi and Nassar Kassab. However my choice of Kyokushin fighter of the year for 2019 would be the young Samuel Shields. This young man has fast footwork and excellent variation of techniques…an absolute joy to watch. With the right coaching he can go far.
Osu!
Sensei Rodney Wippenaar
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