International Karate Alliance Kyokushin Ryu |27 August 2019
Team Seychelles
Moustache promoted to 7th dan
- Seychelles fighters do well at Mauritius tournament
Local karatekas from the Kyokushin school returned last week from their involvement in the Africa Open International Karate Championships which were held in Mauritius with very positive results.
The tournament was organised by the Mauritius branch of the International Karate Alliance Kyokushin Ryu (IKAK) and the head of the organisation, Kancho Peter Chong 9th dan black belt was the guest of honour. He was accompanied by Shihan Steven Foo 5th dan black belt.
Junior karateka Vince Ernesta was the hero of the Seychelles team by winning the junior category while Sempai Luigi Adrienne was the runner-up in the senior elite category and Tina Hoareau in the women's senior elite category.
During the event, Shihan Phillip Moustache was promoted to the grade of 7th dan black belt, making him the highest graded Seychellois karateka in the world.
In view of the large number of karatekas, the tournament was held over two days with the host country Mauritius fielding a large number of fighters. However, some foreign fighters from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Philippines, India and Singapore did not turn up due to financial or unforeseen events. In view of this, fighters from Seychelles and South Africa got byes to the quarterfinals and semifinals.
In the junior light category, Vince Ernesta dominated his opponents winning all his fights. During one of his fights his opponent punched him in the eye which resulted in a black eye. He blocked off the pain and went on to be crowned the champion of this category.
In the junior lightweight category, Elijah Gedeon won his first fight but lost the next fight. In the junior medium weight Keanu Hoareau lost his fight while Kavish Gunatilake lost his fight in the semifinals to clinch third position.
In the women's light weight semifinals category, Richel Rabara lost to the eventual champion Tracy Meunier of Mauritius and clinched the third position. Tina Hoareau who had a walkover in the semifinals clinched second place after she lost to the eventual champion Kaylin Stubbs of South Africa in the final.
In the men's elite heavy weight category, Sempai Luigi Adrienne defeated his opponents to secure a place in the final where he met Yashveen Seebrun of Mauritius. The fight went to two rounds with the Mauritian emerging as the winner.
Congratulations to all the local fighters on their achievements.
During the event, Kancho Peter Chong promoted Shihan Phillip Moustache to 7th dan black belt making him the second highest graded karateka in the IKAK. Shihan Moustache makes Seychelles history by becoming the highest graded Seychellois karateka in the world and this is a result of 44 years of continuous training.
In addition to being the continental director for the whole of Africa, Shihan Moustache is the technical director for the IKAK internationally responsible for the standardisation of techniques and katas worldwide. No local karateka has ever achieved such a position and this is indeed an honour for Seychelles.
Congratulations to Shihan Moustache on this achievement.
Last week Kancho Peter Chong and Shihan Foo made a four-day visit to Seychelles where he met the members and conducted a training session with them. Kancho Peter Chong expressed his appreciation of the local standard of the karatekas.
Kancho Peter started his Kyokushin training in 1965 and trained exclusively with the founder Sosai Masutatsu Oyama 10th dan in Japan as an Uchi Deshi (live-in student) for about five years. His next stop will be in Sri Lanka.
The Kyokushin Karate school would like to thank Hunt Deltel & Co for the help extended during the visit of Kancho Peter Chong and Shihan Steven Foo. The next major event will be the World Junior Championships scheduled to be held in November in Singapore.
Contributed
