NZ emerged victorious from the 6th Commonwealth Karate Championships in Sydney, Australia on 30-31 July 2011. Over 600 competitors from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Botswana, Canada, India, Scotland and Mozambique descended on the EG Whitlam Centre in Sydney to contest kata and Kumite events in Senior and age group competition. As well as senior male and female kata and kumite and the WKF age groups of juniors (16/17 yrs) and Cadets (14/15 yrs), the Commonwealths also featured childrens competition in the 12/13 yrs and 11/12 yrs age categories. As the detailed results show, New Zealand Karate athletes showed their prowess in both Kata and Kumite accross all age groups and emerged the leading Commonwealth nation at the 6th Commonwealth Championships. It was a complete performance by a well coached and highly motivated New Zealand team backed by an equally motivated and enthusiastic band of supporters. More detailed reports and analysis will follow but, in short, the results show that Karate New Zealand's High Performance, Coaching and Talent Identification programmes are on track. The quality and outstanding potential of New Zealand's emerging junior talent was obvious to all. The hard work and committment by players, coaches, officials, administrators and parent support (the oil that drives amateur sport in NZ) was not so obvious but very real.
The next step for Karate New Zealand is to turn Commonwealth success into World Championship success. For the 20 strong NZ team selected for the 7th WKF World Cadet (14/15 yrs) and Junior (16/17 yrs) and the 2nd WKF Under 21 World Cup in Melaka, Malaysia on 13-16 October 2011, the challenge is to lift their sights higher. Experienced observers from other Commonwealth Nations believe that New Zealand athletes are not far from making a significant mark on the medal table World level. The big difference in 2011 is that our young athletes now truly believe it also. If you don't believe it will never happen; if you do believe then anything is possible. |
