The Funakoshi Gichin Online Festival 2020

08 February 2021

Last November the JKA Malta Committee submitted videos of 14 JKA Malta Karateka performing a web adapted ‘Tekki Shodan’ as part of the The Funakoshi Gichin Online Festival 2020. This first ever karate online competition was planned with the aim to provide an event where karate-ka around the world, who may be unable to train at their dojos or to travel for competitions due to Covid-19, could enjoy a competition together with JKA karate-ka everywhere.

There were more than 1,000 participants from all around the world, naming just a few like Russia, England, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Norway, etc.  In this event  there was no limit to the number of participants presented by each country, and all video entries were categorized according to age only. Males and females, black belts and colour belts were mixed so the categories were bigger and hence more competitive.

The JKA HQ in Japan had four months to examine the videos in slow motion, as opposed to the few seconds judgement time available in physical championships, and only judges and referees from JKA HQ evaluated the videos, giving even more value to these results.

Top 10 performances from each age category have just been uploaded on the Official JKA YouTube channel, and JKA-Malta members got some exciting results:

• Shayma En Najar - 9th Place

Category: 10-12 years

11 year old, 5th kyu Blue Belt (amongst black belts)

YT: https://youtu.be/Pg6f8wIKxfY

• Liane Chircop - 4th Place

Category: 19-21 years

19 year old, 2nd Dan JKA

YT: https://youtu.be/4Ddq4YPORl4

• Nicole Chircop - 8th Place (2nd in Ladies)

Category: 22-39 years

23 year old, 2nd Dan JKA

YT: https://youtu.be/e8DdzVJnsV0

JKA Malta is very proud of you girls!

We look forward to training harder for future competitions and upcoming events!

OSS