By Ron Lane
For the local Sunshine Coast Martial Arts Dojo, situated at Gibson Road Noosa, the recent Australian Open Karate Championships held in Sydney were indeed a success. At the end of the tournament which was conducted over a four day period, (Thursday through till Sunday with Thursday being the school championships) the club represented by a team of 13 came home with a total of 16 medals; 4 gold 4 silver and 8 bronze.
When the National club ratings were announced these results saw the club listed in the top 10; indeed an outstanding achievement. This tournament has been a great success,” said Head Sensei (teacher) Bryan Dukas, “not just for us but for the sport in general. This year we saw our sport take on a more international flavor when countries such as New Zealand (which consisted of junior and senior teams ),New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Nepal and Fiji, had teams in attendance.
The atmosphere was very friendly and very supportive to our overseas visitors. It was good to see countries such as New Caledonia, which at present is experiencing a spread of Martial Arts throughout the country, in attendance. Under the control of the Australian Karate Federation all events were run according to the rules of the senior governing body, the World Karate Federation; and Olympic approval. It is interesting to note that all gold medals won by the club were won by female members; and amongst them was Nicole Thornton.
Competing in the veteran section Nicole, (a married mother of two and a karate veteran of some twenty years), won her gold medal for her performance of the kata (form). For the Thornton family it did not stop there. Despite not winning a medal both her sons Josh aged 16 and Ryan 17 reached the semi- finals in the sparring u/18; definitely a good family effort.
Having contested both the state and national titles with a great deal of success, this will give the club good preparations for their visit to Japan where their team (possible 25 members) will contest the World Shotokan Karate Championships as well as attending the International Karate Training Seminar. And to top it off two members will undergo grading under Japanese sensei. We wish them well
