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Best Ever Performance for Karate Canada at Junior Pan Ams

August 29, 2016

Karate Canada would like to extend its congratulations to the members of the National Team who competed at the 2016 Cadet & Junior Pan American Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on August 24th-28th. Our official delegation included 62 athletes, as well as coaches, support staff and officials. We are pleased to report that Canadian athletes achieved their best results ever at this event: 32 top-ten finishes amidst a total of 15 medals.

Three Canadian female kumite athletes earned gold medals in Guayaquil, a first in Karate Canada’s history: Megan Rochette (U14 +45kg) division, Melissa Bratic (Junior +59kg), and Camélie Boisvenue (U21 +68kg). Bronze medal finishes included Melissa Chan (Junior -48 kg), Darbyanh Heenan (Junior -53kg), Laurence Morin and Trysten Deveau (U21 -55kg), and Hana and Lisa Furumoto-Deshaies (U21 -61kg). T. Deveau, H. Furumoto-Deshaies, C. Boisvenue, and Isabel Chan also took the bronze medal in the U21 female team kumite event. In male kumite, Maxym-Oliver Rivest (Junior +76kg) won a silver medal, while bronze medals were earned by Isaiah Ingram (U14 -45kg), Nathaniel Besso (U21 -60kg), and Alexandre-Benjamin Rivest (U21 +84kg). In kata, Amelie Del Rosario received a bronze medal in the U14 Female category. You may click here to have access to full results.

Canada was also well represented by its 13 participating officials, a number of whom also successfully updated their licenses at this event. Both Trevor Walmsley and Jean-Marc Somma have achieved their Kumite Referee A licenses, and Chantal Boileau and Valentyna Zolotarova earned their Kumite Referee B licenses. Andreas Kuntze, Thomas de Freyman, and Yogen Mungroosing received their Kumite and Kata Judge A licenses, while Yoshie Furumoto received her Kumite Judge A license. This tournament concludes the 2016 competitive season for the Junior National Team program, yet many Junior Team Roster athletes are expected to take part in the imminent Summit, so as to help sharpen their skills in anticipation of the coming seasons and events.

“The 2016 Junior Pan American Championships, held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, was a stellar success for the entire delegation.” says Karate Canada’s President Mr. Craig Vokey. “It was a pleasure to see many athletes on the podium and many more in the top 8. Hats off to the Canadian Coaches and Officials for their dedication and success at the event and many thanks to the parents for thier support. The 2017 Junior Championships are in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Click here to view photo.