By Marlon Munroe
Founder and chief instructor of the International Shotakan Karate Federation (ISKF) Teruyuki Okazaki yesterday received the ‘key to the city’ of Georgetown in the Promenade Gardens.
Okazaki, 79, a 10th degree black belt in shotokan karate, was welcomed by Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green.
Green, addressing the gathering that also made up members of the 12 participating countries in the championships, told Okazaki that the city was gracious to have his presence and gave the veteran karateka of 62 years his blessing for a successful staging of the two-day tournament.
He lauded the efforts of the executive of the Guyana Karate College (GKC) for putting together the tournament. The GKC has also received the help of the Government of Guyana.
“Let me welcome all of you to Guyana and I wish you an enjoyable stay in our country. At the same time, I must applaud the GKC who did a good job in organizing this prestigious tournament.
“For those who are visiting with us for the first time, a very special welcome and I hope you take the opportunity to visit our historical, architectural treasures and exploit some of the excellent shopping at bargain prices in our vendors arcade and local markets,” Green said.
Okazaki, a Director of the ISKF, who with Gichin Funakoshi and Masatoshi Nakayama formed the Japan Karate Association’s instructor training programme, will be the Chief Judge today when the 11th ISKF Pan American karate championships commence at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) from 09:00 hours.
The first day of the tournament will be an elimination session with the finals being held tomorrow.
Eight Dan Master Frank Woon-A-Tai, who is considered Guyana’s most decorated karateka, also came in for praise from Green.
Woon-A-Tai implored the participants of the tournament to strive to become good leaders and to compete in a manner that will not bring disrepute to the sport that largely advocates discipline.
Woon-A-Tai also extended special greetings to Okazaki and the overseas guests for the championships that are returning to Guyana after 21 years.
Okazaki in his response said that he was honoured to be back in Guyana again for the tournament and said it was his hope that the karatekas can develop their skills.
“I am honoured to be here in Guyana for this prestigious tournament which is very important to the karatekas who seek to develop themselves and become good martial artists. It will also present them with a very good opportunity to develop as well as strengthen their techniques in martial arts, while helping them with their concentration as well,” said the author of The Textbook of Modern Karate and Perfection of Character: Guiding Principles for the Martial Arts & Everyday Life.
A visit by Stabroek Sport to the CASH yesterday saw workmen making the final touches to the facility. Karatekas from Jamaica and Canada were also fine tuning their acts for the team and individual kata events.
Speaking to the Assistant Coach of the Jamaica team Shodan (first Dan black belt) Paula Daley said that a lot of work had gone into the preparation of the team and just like every other team Jamaica was here to win and improve. She reflected on the strong youth programme back home and she was hoping that with the preparation which started last year, there will be good results.
“We really have been making an effort, trying to get the kids to work together because it is all about discipline and giving them something to look forward to, see how they can compete, how they interact with each other and with other countries. We have the old adage: hard work, good results and that is what we are hoping for,” the karateka of 10 years said.
She disclosed that while the strength of the 11-man team lay in the kumite department, there is a good balance of kata, and they have to work in tandem if a karateka will develop. “We have a balanced team in both the kata and kumite.
“You have those who are really strong at kumite and those who are really strong at kata but you have to do both to develop the other, so I think we have a good balance,” Daley emphasised.
Some local karatekas did some light work yesterday at the Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) dojo, temporary home of the GKC, and they expressed their confidence going into today’s tournament. They too were working on their kata techniques.
Kata is a Japanese word describing detailed choreographed patterns of movements practised either solo or in pairs. It is also used in many traditional Japanese arts but is most commonly known for its presence in martial arts.
