A HAUL of four gold medals from Tim Burke was the highlight for Warren Hickey’s Precision Martial Arts Bathurst at what was a successful campaign at the recent International Sports Karate Nationals.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Staged in Liverpool, 492 fighters from all around Australia attended the nationals, meaning that competition was stiff across all disciplines.
Still, Burke shone for the tournament team as he won gold medals in the sword, sumo, point sparring and contact sparring events.
He was not the only Bathurst competitor to earn a medal either.
Tegan and Hannah Gibbons were victorious in their sword combat events, while Kiara Blattman won her self-defence division and snared bronze in the weapons kata.
READ ALSO: Bathurst Wallabies will invade Forbes
READ ALSO: Karlo Jonno adds to his mother’s record
It was a successful tournament for the entire Blattman family. Along with the gold and bronze for Kiara, Damien Blattman placed third in kata and Beau earned bronze in self-defence.
Sarah Duffey was another Bathurst fighter who performed well at nationals with four medals - placing second in kata, sumo and point sparring plus third in weapons.
Olivia Duffey placed third in the sword combat event, Elias Burke was second in point sparring and Reubin Delaney finished third in self-defence.
In total the 10 Bathurst competitors claimed 18 medals between them at the tournament, capping off what was a successful year.
Following the nationals campaign, Warren Hickey’s Precision Martial Arts Bathurst also held their grading ceremonies during November.
A total of 32 students aged between seven and 48-years-old were graded.
Plenty of hard work had gone into the students advancing up to either provisional black belt, first dan black belt, second dan black belt, third dan black belt and fourth dan black belt.
The two-day event progressed through four sessions, with students running through testing strength and cardio; karate techniques including punching blocking kicking and kata; jiu jitsu skills; wrestling techniques and finally sparring.
Keep up to date with the latest sports news by clicking here
"It was a fantastic day overall and I am very proud of all of my students,” sensei Warren Hickey said.
“To achieve your provisional black belt it takes four years of training and then another 12 months of training after that to achieve your first dan black belt.
“You have to train in a minimum of four classes per week continually over that period, so it takes a lot of dedication, persistence and hard work. The process of achieving your black belt is not an easy task.
“There are a variety of different skills involved, which become more challenging as students progress further through the levels of black belt.”