WA and Geraldton fighters take home medal haul from Shotokan Karate national championships

Geraldton fighters enjoyed a welcome return to the Traditional Shotokan Karate-Do Federation Australia national championships as two locals took home gold medals in their divisions.

Shotokan is the most widely practised style of karate and is considered the most traditional style named after the first dojo built in Japan in 1936.

The competition was held in Runaway Bay Gold Coast with WA once again punching above its weight with only one member of the squad not coming away with a medal.

Yuka Harrop won gold in the kata (forms) and bronze in the kumite (fighting) senior women division, and Alicia France one gold in both kata and kumite in the Open division.

It is the first time the championships have been held since 2018 after COVID disruptions wiped out the most rent editions.

Club sensei Pasco Costantino said the competition was much needed for the karate community.

“Everybody needed it because we are like one big family,” he said.

“All clubs around Australia dropped off between floods and COVID with some not training for over 12 months so it was an excellent turnout considering.

“Everybody is basically regrouping and we needed these nationals to get the blood pumping again.”

Alicia France. a former member of the national team, was pleased with her performance.

“It felt really good to be back, it was just good to see and train with everyone again I think it reinstilled that passion for karate,” she said.

“A lot of experience determination and focus helped to secure the results.”

Yuka Harrop said overcoming the mental side of the competition was the key to the success.

“I enjoyed the training a lot, it was extremely hard, after the third fourth day your legs are almost like a stone,” she said.

“But each time a got through it I felt accomplished mentally you need to be stronger than you think.

“The training for me was the best part to do well at the competition in the end was just like a bonus.”

Next year’s championships are not far away being held in Adelaide in March and will feature an international senior and junior team from Japan and the club will not be resting on their laurels.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to prepare for next year and there’s a lot more pressure having performed so well here,” France said.

“We’ve got to keep training we can’t stop and got to keep getting better if we want to stay on top,” Constantino said.