Day 3 of competition – summary

Fortunately I woke up early Sunday morning and had a spare ¾ hour to write a fuller report on yesterday’s competition.

It was another pretty good day for the kiwis although we didn’t have a lot on in the afternoon. I didn’t give my notebook to anyone to make notes today so this update is coming from my somewhat dodgy memory so please excuse me and let me know if there are any inaccuracies.

Hanna Kendal – sparring – Gold
Hanna made it through what I think was 4 rounds to win her event.

Mark and Luke – pre-arranged sparring – Gold (they performed 4 times to great crowd adulation)
They had the honour of being asked to perform again for the opening ceremony so Luke has decided not to spar. The flips, and landing the last one on his back on the floor hammer his back – not that he ever complains!

Don Leong - specialty side kick - Gold (previous post mentioning win in sparring was incorrect)
Don Leong – specialty high kick – Gold
This was the event that Don really wanted to win and he was the only competitor to successfully complete the high kick going straight to gold. He was pleased he didn’t have another round as he niggled an old injury on landing it.

Hayden Anderson– sparring – Silver
Hayden fought strongly through a number of rounds loosing in the finals to take the Silver.

Medal hopeful for specialty, Carl, had bitter luck. Last night he cleared the high jump in the second and final round but was disallowed because he raised his hands and yelled out “Yes” on landing. It didn’t look like a fair call on video but I guess this is what happens in sport. In his other specialty, the high kick, he hit the board but it only flipped about 30 degrees, not quite hitting it hard enough to score what was needed. He was naturally very disappointed.

I watched Afi Meleisea’s first round and he went out hard out completely dominating his opponent. Unfortunately I didn’t see his second round but he said afterwards that he ran out of steam in the last minute.

Richard Lavin made it to round two in his sparring event.

Deejay Thompson took a sidekick in the ribs and dislodged his lower right one in his first round. He said this prevented him from being able to give it his best and he was beaten in round one.

With Deejay and Luke out it Sunday’s NZ senior men’s team sparring is looking unlikely to happen.

Michael Davis sparred really well in his junior micro-weight division. He showed real courage, determination and speed. These guys are really fast. He won his first round. In the second round (I think it was) he took a reverse turning kick to the head 9 seconds before the finish which floored him. The doctor said he couldn’t continue although he had got up and was keen too. Under the rules it was then decided on whos fault it was and the corner judges concurred that his competitor had done nothing wrong so Michael lost.

Our two young blackbelts Robert Meleisea and Mitchell Leon both did us proud with gritty performances. They competed in the same division, although fortunately not drawing each other. Both won their first rounds with their Dad’s proudly seconding them. Robert lost round two.

For Mitchell’s results we need to explain the sparring format for the world Cup.
There is only one 3 minute round probably to keep the momentum up to get through the large numbers of competitors. Some divisions can have up to 70 competitors. If it is a draw there is a further one minute round. If that is drawn it goes to sudden death with the first point wins rule with corner judges standing and, when the referee stops, they show the point they saw. Three judges need to agree to win.

Finals have the traditional 2 x 2 x two minute rounds that we’re used to.
Mitchell dew his second round, drew the extra 1 minute round, in the sudden death playoff the first call was even and the second call saw his opponent win.

Avikesh Prasad lost in his first round.

I’ve probably missed some competitors – if so, I’m sorry about that.

Oh, and if some of the pictures I selected and posted last night are out of focus and not optimised I’m sorry about that. With about 1,500 pictures to select from last night I didn’t have time to look at each one full screen, so I made the selections from large thumbnail sized ones where some out-of-focus images look ok. I’ll go through them again in the next few days and refine the selection. I think it’s more important to get them up fast for you though rather than perfect which I’m sure you agree.

Cheers
Doug