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Saturday, December 20, 2003
Top karate masters in Baguio for reg'l championships
TOP practitioners of traditional karate led by sixth dan blackbelt Kunio Sasaki and former world champion Julian Chees will officiate in the 18th Northern Luzon Japan Karate Association (JKA) championships at 3 p.m. Saturday at the University of Baguio gym.
The 66-year old Sasaki, who arrived in the Philippines in 1965, was instrumental in the development of shotokan (knife hand) karate here and remains the JKA's permanent representative in the country.
The multi-titled Chees, an Igorot from Bontoc, Mt. Province and Sasaki's former student, earned the distinction of being the only Asian to have joined the German national karate squad which he powered to international victories from 1986 until his retirement from the team in 2001.
The five-foot, four-inch Chees topped the kata event in the 1993 World Shotokan Karate Championships in Germany, ruled the European tournament for six times, the England International and Holland International for three times and the Norwegian International for two times.
"Being the smallest in the team, I had to concentrate in kata and left the kumite (sparring) to my much-taller teammates, although I joined them for a third-place finish in team sparring in the Holland International," Chees recalled.
In the 1997 Las Vega International Open, he finished fifth among 1,500 blackbelts with his execution of unsu (parting of the clouds) which, together with nijushiho (river flow) isz his favorite kata.
Now 43 and a fourth dan, Chees serves as the head of over 80 shotokan clubs in southern Germany. He has brought along four of his female students - blackbelt Alex Zgraja, brownbelts Renate Doth and Sofia Navrohdoudis and greenbelt, Dr. Martina Scherbert who will perform the hangetsu (half moon) kata during the regional competition.
Before the regional meet, Sasaki and Chees will combine with fourth dan blackbelt Edgar Kapawen Sr., the JKA's Northern Luzon chief instructor, in conducting a seminar for colored belts at the local dojo at the YMCA gym.
Kapawen, who taught Chees his basic form, said another visiting team from Saudi Arabia is expected to arrive for the competition, which will draw players from Mt. Province, Benguet, Kalinga and the host gym.
Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan will be the guest of honor and speaker while Mayor Bernardo Vergara will welcome the delegates.
One of the biggest and most prestigious karate schools in the world, the JKA is affiliated with the International Traditional Karate Federation headed by ninth-dan Hidetaka Nishiyama, who is based in California. Ramon Dacawi
(December 20, 2003 issue)
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