16 August 2009 Update
The highlight for Karate New Zealand last month (and this year) was Letitia Carr's fabulous silver medal effort in the Women's Open Kumite at the World Games in Kaohsiung, China Taipei, on 26 July. At only 19 years of age and in her first major senior elite international karate competition, Letitia's performance in making the final was superb. The fact that with 25 seconds to go she was leading European Champion Eva Medvekova of Slovakia 4-1 was a tribute to her skill and indomitable spirit. The silver could so easily have been gold; but Medvekova summoned all her experience and with a measure of desperation and good luck showed why she is World #1.
We will take the silver and celebrate what this means for New Zealand Karate. Coming on top of Christopher Rahardja's incredible 5th place in Senior Men's Kata at last November's World Championships at only 16 years of age, Letitia's success is proof beyond doubt that the Karate New Zealand High Performance plan is on the right track. Tough decisions were taken in 2005 to dump the previous plan and bring in a bold new vision and personnel with the courage and enthusiasm to implement it. Four years later Karate New Zealand's success at Oceania, Junior and Senior World Championship and World Games level reflect an accelerating rate of progress that once upon a time seemed beyond our reach. Letitia is the first New Zealand Karate athlete to ever reach a Senior World Championship or World Games final. Her success shows the Karate world and, more importantly, young Karate-ka throughout New Zealand that we are capable of succeeding at the highest level. It is no longer a question of "if", it is now only a question of "when" we produce a New Zealand World Champion.
The only disappointing note in the last week was the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board decision on 13 August to select two sports other than Karate to be added to the Olympic Games programme in 2016. While some traditionalists may have mixed feelings, there is no doubt that gaining the Olympic nod would have been a huge boost to even more people discovering the many benefits of Karate. However, that is true of all 7 sports that were seeking inclusion. Karate's disappointment is no greater than that of Squash, Softball, Baseball and Roller Sports. The fact that Golf, a global sport with huge existing financial resources, was so desperate to win inclusion is testament to the huge power of the Olympic brand. While we may have our personal views of the wisdom of of the IOC Executive Board decision, it was their decision to make. In the early voting rounds Karate was clearly the second preference after Rugby 7s. How Golf was able to steal the prize after gaining only 1 vote in the first round of voting is a lesson in Board room politics. For those with Board room experience, the voting outcome in each round (see following link http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_1453.pdf ) is revealing. Nothing improper, but an illustration that there must have been an influential advocate for Golf over the last 3 rounds of voting. In true Karate spirit, we accept the outcome with all the good grace and dignity we can muster. Life goes on and our focus in the sport of Karate remains winning medals at World Championship level.
Coming up this month, look out for the following:
- detailed reports in our feature column on our athletes performances at the World Games and other National and Regional events;
- upcoming events at Regional level such as the Wellington Secondary Schools Championships on 23 August;
- Sugihara Cup on 28-30 August at North Shore Events Centre in Auckland with over 240 competitors including 70 from overseas
- NZ team for the Cadet, Junior and U21 World Championships in Morocco in November
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