Okinawan karate men win at East Asian Senior Championship

June 10, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

In the 3rd East Asian Senior Karate Championship, which began on June 8 in Wuhan, China, Japan won all the Kata divisions for individual men, women, and teams. Okinawan Ryo Kyuna (Ryueiryu) has now won two consecutive years in the men’s Kata Individual Division. He is also a member of the Japan team (including Takuya Uemura and Arata Kinjo of Okinawa International University), which came first in the Kata Team Division. Japan won convincingly 5-0 against both the Taiwanese senior team in the first round and the Taiwanese junior team in the final. They performed the Suparinpei kata in the first round of the tournament and the Annan kata in the final. Kyuna lost just one point in the first round in the Kata Individual Division, going on to defeat his Korean opponent in the semifinal and the representative from Macau in the final.

Kyuna aims at the world stage

Gold medals shone on the chests of the Okinawan karate men who have inherited the tradition of the Ryueiryu. The Japanese team of three men from Okinawa overwhelmed their opposition with a near perfect performance. Kyuna, who was victorious in both the individual and team events, said, “I think that I went well, and I won good marks. I think that I made a statement ahead of the next international tournament.”

In the Kata Team Division, the Japanese team of Kyuna, Uemura and Kinjo comfortably defeated the other teams 5-0 in the first round and in the final. Kyuna said, “I think that we were better that our opponents in all the key aspects of power, speed, spirit, and basic technique.” Kinjo was injured a month ago, but they worked together to overcome this, and their teamwork became stronger as a result.

Kyuna took part in many international competitions last year and now aspires to win on the world stage. While he has rivals within Japan, he says, “I want to be selected to represent Japan at the Asian and then the World tournaments.”

(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)

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