Nine young Sudbury martial artists are back in town weighed down with medals from the WKC World Championships, held Nov. 2-8 in Niagara Falls, New York.
The local martial arts travelling team is composed of members from the Sudbury and Valley KMAC (Korean Martial Arts Centre) martial arts schools. The competitors ranged in age from 11 to 17 years old.
Coach Chris Fortin said promoters of the event said this year’s competition was biggest yet, with more than a 1,000 competitors.
Damian Doni and Daymond Stripay-Gobeil are new to Team KMAC and both from Northeastern Elementary School. They qualified at nationals last May and were invited to join Team Canada at the worlds. Fortin said both performed “extremely well and truly belonged among the world’s best.” Damond came away with a fourth place finish in Chinese Forms.
Hailey Fitzpatrick, a top competitor for Team KMAC, retained her title as world champion in the Chinese forms division. She also finished fourth in Korean forms. Her fighting events did not go the way she hoped, and KMAC told Sudbury.com she jokingly said she won “a nice kick to the face.”
KMAC also highlighted Josh Carriere, who won a silver medal in the team fight division. He also won the bronze in continuous fighting. Fortin said Josh and his father, Joe, have been “a big part in the development of the KMAC fighters” by holding extra training sessions on Sunday nights to get the team ready.
Besides gaining skill in the continuous fighting divisions, which is similar to kickboxing, Fortin said, Team KMAC members are also competing in the extreme forms divisions, which adds gymnastic and acrobatic elements in martial arts routines. Evan Leduc placed fifth in the event at worlds “and will no doubt be a consistent podium finisher in the years to come,” Fortin said.
The complete results from Team KMAC are:
- Hailey Fitzpatrick won gold in the girls 13-14 Chinese forms and fourth in Korean forms division. Hailey also competed in point and continuous sparring.
- Sebastien Maillet won bronze in the boys 15-17 Chinese forms and the -5kg continuous fighting divisions. Sebastien also competed in Korean forms and point fighting.
- Luciano Gianfrancesco won silver in the boys 15-17 Chinese forms and fourth in Korean forms.
- Ocean Avery won bronze in the 11-12 girls -45kg point fighting division.
- Josh Carriere won silver in the boys 15-17 team fights and a bronze in the -80kg continuous fighting. Josh also competed in Chinese forms and point fighting divisions.
- Daymond Stripay-Gobeil won fourth in the boys 11-12 Chinese forms division. Damond also competed in Korean forms.
- Miguel Pitre placed fifth in the boys 13-14 Chinese forms. Miguel also competed in Korean forms and continuous fighting.
- Evan Leduc placed fifth in the boys 15-17 extreme forms division, and also competed in Chinese and Korean forms.
- Damian Doni competed in the boys 11-12 Korean forms division.
With the world championship behind them, the next step is preparing for the 2020 National qualifier, which will be held in Sudbury on March 28.
