The 2013 New South Wales Australian Kyokushin Karate Association Full Contact Championships were for the first time in over twenty year held in Sydney and what a successful move that proved to be, with well over 50 fighters in the draw, it was the largest number of fighters in a New South Wales event since its conception. Not only was the event the biggest New South Wales event, but with a large number of strong fighters from Victoria participating, the audience were going to be treated to some spectacular bouts.

Branch Chief;John Taylor

The event started in great style when the 5th Kyu & Under Middleweight got into action. They may have been the junior grades of the event, but it was certainly not junior grade fighting with some tough strong fighters looking to put their first State Title next to their name, the final was an all Sydney affair with Kevin Williams from Sensei Yoshida’s Crows Nest dojo and Ari Slamer from Hanshi Taylor’s Bondi Junction dojo. Ari scored with a half point and look like he had it in the bag until he penalised with a “genten” for head punch and his title hopes started to look shaky, however, the judges thought the half point was enough and gave him the title.
The Male 5th Kyu & Under Lightweight Division were just has determined and the final between two Bondi Junction fighters Ben Prochazka and Susumu Tooyoka was worth the price of the entry, the fact that they were dojo mates made no difference and both fighters held nothing back and put up a great and very close fight, without either fighter able to score it was up to the judges to pick a winner and they went for Ben. The final of the Heavyweight 5th Kyu and Under Division had Chris Rowe from Sensei Steve Hardy’s Ballarat dojo, who (as always) brought up a very strong team, Chris had to beat the a very good Griffith fighter in Craig Bardney and even though it was a very close fight it was Craig that come out on top with the flags going his way along with the title. The Final of the Female 16 & 17 Years had two of the best up and coming Female Fighter in the AKKA on the mat, with Tzara Brooka and Alanah Jeffrey both from the Steve Hardy Ballarat dojo, (they must feed them raw meat down there) these two set a standard in both technique and spirit that had the audience on their feet for the first time that day. It is at time like this that all the match officials who are “not” in corner are very happy not to be there, as it was a “King Solomon” style decision but it was Alanah that got win.
The Male Colts were not to be out done by the females and in an all Griffith Lightweight Final between Michael Cirillo and in the Lightweight Colts and Jack Bardney, these was a match between two young fighters with great technique who no doubt did every technique in the book, to the delight of the audience, it was Michael that got the flags in another tough decision. The Male Heavyweight Colt Final between Griffith fighter Dale Mannell and Bondi Junction’s Jay Volkerts, was a tough no nonsense affair, in the end Dale just proved to be bigger and tougher and become the 2013 Champion. It was another Crows Nest and Bondi Junction affair in the Male Lightweight 4th & 3rd Kyu Division when Kojiro Nogi out fought Bondi Junction’s Gel Freire. Gel had beat Victorian Julius Wsol in a “monster bout” to make it into the final, Julian is short and stocky and put his low-to-the-ground physic to good use when he drove Gel with some huge hits, sadly it was not enough to beat the very sharp Gel who was skilled enough to wear Julius down and come home strong. The final between Gel and Kojiro was just as nail biting, but this time it was Kojiro that came home strong for a great win. It was another strong fighter from Ballarat, (they just roll them out down there) in Jordan Wallis in the Final of the Heavyweight Male 4th & 3rd Kyu Middleweight Division when he took on another Bondi Junction fighter in Chris Kobari. Jordan proved too fit and too strong for Chris who was “underdone” having problems holding Jordan out for the full three minutes. It was on to the main events when the event then moved into the “Open Divisions” In the Female Lightweight Division, the Surprise fighter of the tournament, Tamworth’s Fiona O’Neil who trains with Sensei Mark Tyson and was in her first ever full contact event, Fiona came out all fired up and never took a step back against her “Gun fighter” opponent Alysha Janssen, Alysha was a short odds to win this one, but that was not what Fiona had in mind her strong no-nonsense hard driving style took the day the title. The Male Open Lightweight Division Final had Bondi Junctions Kengo Takahashi up against Patrick Balk from Griffith. A typical Kyokushin style bout with lots of strong low kicks mixed in with even strong body blows, another tough choice for the judges, but it was Kengo that had done enough to get the win! The Female Middleweight Open Division Final had two Griffith fighters in Karen Cirillo and Lisa Hodder battling it out for the top spot; it must be the Griffith air, as they just seem to produce one great fighter after another. These two were no exception. It seemed that Karen win until Lisa let go with a great roundhouse kick to the head for full point win. The Male Middleweight Open Final was another “well-worth-the-wait bout between Goju Ryu fighter (Seishikan) Tristan Crane and John Stassi form the Sensei Sklavos Maroubra dojo. Tristan had beaten some very strong Kyokushin fighters to get into the final and to make more impressive it was his first Kyokushin event. Tristan got better with each fight and by the time he came face to face with John he knew what he had to do to win. However, John is also a very good fighter with lots of experience and used his superior experience to wear Tristan down to get the win. In the Female Heavyweight Open Division, Tiani Smith had stepped up into the Open Division for the first time. Not a lot was expected from Tiani, most of the thinking was she has lots of talent, so let’s get her some good experience and head her for the Nationals in August. Tiani was having non of that and had a great win over a very strong fighter in Nicole Furlong from Sempai Walsh’s Sydenham dojo, another strong Victorian dojo which seems to be able to produce one champion after another, however, Tiani proved to strong for Nicole to get an impressive win, she now faced Bondi junction fighter Ysoble Jarjoura, who had beat another of Sempai Walsh’s strong fighters in Jacque Jabonska, Jacqueline had stepped up into the “Open Division” looking for stronger opponents. Before the tournament the smart money would have been on Ysoble, however, Tiani was looking impressive and it was going to be hard one to pick. That was exactly how it turned out, a very close bout with Tiani doing enough to get the flags. The very last fight of the day between Bondi Junction’s John Williams and Maroubra’s Sebastian Traccaz was a great fight to finish the day on with two big men slugging it out, when the smoke cleared and the flags went up it was Nick Williams that was the NSW 2013 Heavyweight Open Champion.