On September 27-28, nineteen Karate BC athletes headed to the West Coast Open in Tacoma Washington. This annual tournament attracted some of the most accomplished Canadian and American athletes including recent participants in the Jr Pan American Championships from both countries (Team Canada – Khyber Barnett, Thanu Kumar, and Shalene Lee) including Kiel Higgins (USA), a Jr World Championship bronze medal winner, and more recently, Jr Pan American Gold medal winner (Kata 16/17).
Many attendees participated in Kumite workshops conducted by 3X World Kumite Champion Elisa Au Fonseca. Sensei Brian James (Kimeru Shotokan Karate) and Sensei Valentyna Zolotarova (Hayabusa) attended as officials. Sensei Matt Bickel (West Van Karate Academy) accompanied a team of kumite athletes as coach. The athletes from British Columbia were clearly there to make a statement. The nineteen BC athletes collectively took home 23 medals that included 11 Gold, 5 Silver and 7 Bronze in divisions ranging from beginner to Masters. The KBC athletes’ standings were:
Kata
- Khyber Barnett: 16/17 boys advanced – Gold; 18-34 men’s advanced – Silver; WKF male (12-17) – Gold; Team Kata advanced – Gold
- John Sawal: 18-34 men’s advanced – Gold; Team Kata advanced – Gold
- Thanu Kumar: 14/15 boys advanced – Bronze; WKF (12-17) – Silver; Team Kata advanced – Gold
- Shalene Lee: 16/17 girls advanced – Gold; 18-34 women’s advanced – Gold; WKF female (12-17) – Gold
- Jithu Kumar: 10/11 girls beginner – Bronze
- Trang Pham: Women’s Masters – Bronze
- Darbyanh Heenan : 16/17 girls advanced – Bronze; 14/15 girls advanced – Gold; WKF female (12-17) – Bronze
Kumite
- Darbyanh Heenan 14/15 girls advanced – Silver
- Shalene Lee 16/17 girls advanced – Gold
- Kyle Macmillan 16/17 advanced – Bronze
- Joel Tai 4/15 boys advanced – Silver
- Rishi Sharma 10/11 boys advanced – Silver
- Josh Noble 10/11 boys advanced – Bronze
- Casey Fraser 10/11 boys intermediate – Participated
- Mark Wong 12/13 advanced – Participated
- Michael Plunkett 12/13 advanced – Participated
- Gur Hothi 12/13 advanced – Participated
- Masaki Soehardhi 14/15 Advanced – Participated
- Jai Sanghara 16/17 Advanced – Participated
- Rika Wong 16/17 Advanced – Participated
- Sarah Perez Women’s Open Advanced – Participated
