New Zealand Open 2008

The 2008 New Zealand Open held in Christchurch over the weekend had some great results for the small Fushin Ryu team in attendance.

The first day was busier with 12 year and over divisions being held. The FRK team consisted of Brendon Running, Rebecca Keighley, Tamara Glyn, Chris Rahardja, Sandeep Summon, Marina Monk, Alex Fox, Kosei Higurashi, William Wood, Sonya Summon, Cameron Stobie and Carl Monk. On the Sunday only Richard Rahardja competed in the individual divisions with Marina competing in the Auckland kumite team that beat Wellington 2-1 with Marina winning her bout against Naomi 8-0.

Richard Rahardja had lots of support from his team members being the only fushin ryu competitor on that day. He won gold in both the kata and kumite.

Brendon narrowly lost in the final of the under 21yrs kata to Aidan of Miyagikan taking silver. In the senior kata division he also met Aidan still but was still unable to get the better of him. Due to time constraints Brendon only had two kumite divisions, the under 21yrs open weight kumite which he won beating Aaron of Christchurch 8-0 and reversing the result with Aidan. In the open senior mens kumite Brendon took third place with some convincing results but was stopped by Todd Hammington of Wellington who put on an awesome kicking display to build up an early 6-0 lead in 30 seconds. Brendon fought back well to 6-4 before succuming 15-6 in one of the most entertaining fights of the day, with one win apiece we look forward to their next match in Wellington.

Marina joined Jasmin Holland and Mackenzie in the Auckland v Wellington team kumite. Marina started the team off well with an 8 - nil win with Jasimin clinching the team win.

Full Results should be on the karate NZ website.