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Sudbury martial artists well-represented at World Championships

KMAC athletes bring home five medals from Florida
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Members of Sudbury and Valley KMAC represented Team Canada at the WKC World Karate Championships held in Orlando, Florida from Nov. 6 – 10. The team brought home five medals from the championship. (Supplied)

Members of Sudbury and Valley KMAC represented Team Canada at the WKC World Karate Championships held in Orlando, Florida from Nov. 6 – 10. 

Once again, the dedicated athletes brought home several medals to Sudbury.

Four athletes made the trip to compete against hundreds of martial arts competitors from around the world.  

This year, 11-year-old Owen Dobson was crowned world champion in the Chinese Forms division. He also earned a bronze in Point-Fighting. 

His coaches were very impressed with his performance, considering it was his first time at the world event. 

Luciano Gianfrancesco, a two-time Canadian champion in previous years, trained hard and dedicated many hours after not receiving the outcome he was looking to achieve at past world events. This year, Luciano’s goal was realized by winning his first world medal - a bronze medal in Chinese Forms .

Hailey Fitzpatrick of Valley East KMAC  has competed once before at the worlds and this year improved her result by obtaining a bronze in Chinese Forms and a fourth place finish in Korean Forms. After her success at Canadian Nationals in Point-Fighting, Hailey was asked to join a three-member team. 

She and her teammates were excited to win the bronze medal in that category.  

KMAC is also training some of their athletes to compete in the Continuous Fighting category, which is similar to kickboxing. This year, Josh Carriere decided to give it a try for the first time at a local tournament in Burlington. 

Josh placed first in the division, and from that moment he was hooked. Josh entered the Canadian Nationals, where he placed third and got a chance to represent Canada. Even though his match at the worlds did not earn the win, Josh is looking ahead and already training for future tournaments.  

In total, the team won five medals and are now focusing on the next challenge: the black belt test.


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