30th European Traditional Karate Championship, Jerusalem (Israel)
30th European Traditional Karate Championship
16-17 November 2011, Jerusalem, Israel
The 30th ITKF European Traditional Karate Championship took place on November 16-17, 2011 at the Malcha Stadium in Jerusalem (Israel).
Top men’s and women’s traditional karate athletes from the 45 ITKF member countries from across Europe competed in the 30th European Traditional Karate Championship. The event included both juniors (under 21 years) as well as seniors (over 21 years). Among the competitors there were champions from: Armenia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. The strongest team representation of the Championship was Poland who won 31 medals in total! Polish seniors won 16 medals (8 goldens, 2 silvers and 6 bronzes) and Polish juniors won 15 medals (6 goldens, 6 silvers and 3 bronzes)
Włodzimierz Kwiecinski –Chairman of the Traditional Karate Federation of Poland and Vice President of the ITKF summed up the performance of the Polish athletes, saying: „After the championship, after the congratulations for the level and quality of traditional karate as we have shown, I told the athletes to remember that art is not a single win but the trick is to maintain the quality (…)”.
In his opening speech to the participants, judges and attendees at the competition, Sensei Richard Jorgensen, President and Chairman of the International Traditional Karate Federation reminded everyone that the competition of the ITKF upholds the Budo principles which are the foundation of the original traditional karate represented by ITKF. He paraphrased the founding President of ITKF, the late Sensei Hidetaka Nishiyama, by stating; „While entertaining, the purpose of our ITKF competition is not entertainment – the purpose is self-development. Consequently, we can never lose sight of the fact that our rules of competition can shape the character of its participants. Thus, we must be ever vigilant in the administration of our competition rules by making them an absolute mirror reflection of our everyday training. ITKF competition is based on the Japanese concept of „shi-ai” – testing each other. As such, we can never forget that our main purpose is to develop Champions for a lifetime – not simply Champions for a single event in life.”
Result of the European championships:
seniors
juniors
