They flexed their muscles, some with intensity, to display with rhythm the skills they have learnt in their brief exposure to Karate. Some held their nerves to impress the judges and audience, a majority of which included parents of the participants, gathered at the event.
This was the scene during the first half of the Inter-School Karate championship organised jointly by the Western Karate School and the Nithyadar School Thokkottu here on Friday. Around 300 children from 27 schools from Mangalore and Kasaragod participated in the tournament. A majority of the participants were from white belt category, which is the entry level for karate.
The event began with solo presentation of karate kata wherein each participant had to present 20 different movement patterns.
This was held class-wise starting with those belonging to white belt. The presentations were made on three different courts placed under a big shamiana.
The first to present was Akshata from class 1, who was the lone girl participating from that class. This was followed by presentation by girls from class 2 where Mellisa, Lellisa, and Mellodia bagged the first three spots. There were four participants this group.
There was intensity in the presentations made by class 6 girls. Diya B Kottari from Padua School and Dhanashree K. from GHSS School Uppala (Near Kasargod) were tied with scores of 17 points. Ms. Kottari scored over Ms. Dhanashree in the presentations made during the tie-break.
Following the presentations by white belt holders were karate kata by yellow and orange belt holders. There were a few karate kata presentations by green, blue, purple and black belt holders. After the karate kata, there was karate kumite matches that involve fighting between two belt holders.
These matches were held as per age categories based on the weight of the participants.
