Montreal – Several Canadian athletes were in action over the past week in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the Veterans and Kata World Championships. Among the veterans, 14 Canadians will return home with a medal around their neck, including Ahmed Hellal Cherak, world champion in the under 100 kg category in the M5 category.
The Quebecer began his perfect run with a victory against the American George Pissimissis before winning again against the Frenchman Philippe Baccou. Cherak then booked his ticket to the final of his category when he defeated Argentinian Alejandro Centeno in the semi-final.
The 52-year-old athlete then had a meeting with the German Robert Krause in the final duel of the day. Cherrak won by ippon after 2 min 30 sec of fighting.
Jeff Allen (+100 kg, M2) and Bianca Ockedahl (-52 kg, F3) are the other two representatives of the maple leaf to have reached a grand final.
Allen, 39, won his first three bouts of the day before losing to Brazilian Rubens Filho in the gold medal match.
As for her, Ockedahl, 42, defeated the Ecuadorian Ana Lucia Perugachi and the Italian Elen Merelli before suffering defeat in the final against the Frenchwoman Lucie Bronner.
For his part, Ronald Angus (-100 kg, M8) received the silver medal after a round-robin tournament where he posted a record of three victories and only one defeat.
Also note the bronze medals of Warren Seib (-81 kg, M1), Justin Rashad Chin (-60 kg, M3), Ivan Zaleskikh (-73 kg, M3), Michael Yee (-66 kg, M4), Christopher Smiley (-81 kg, M4), Tim Takashi (-60 kg, M5), Olivier Bry (-90 kg, M6), Kevin Hamer (-73 kg, M8), Laurie Wiltshire (-57 kg, F3) and Isabelle Gélinas (-52 kg, F4).
Lots of kata action
Thomas Warolin and Zachary Mainville were the only Canadians to reach a final at the World Kata Championships, again in Las Vegas. The Canadian duo took sixth place in the Nage-no-kata final for under-23s with a total of 341 points.
On the senior side in Nage-no-kata, Canada was represented by the team of Isack Berger and Jean-Sébastien Roy, as well as the team composed of Shane Rooney and Xiao Kang Hu. Unfortunately, neither team managed to reach the final.
In the Katame-no-kata category, among the seniors, the Canadian duo of Kelly Palmer and Wesley Enns as well as that of Edward Zupancic and Andrei Oudovikine were not able to reach the top-6 to participate in the final.
Same story for Ju-no-kata where Juliette Mireault and Simon Gauthier-Hansen did not obtain a ticket for the final.
The competition concluded on Sunday with the presentation of the Kime-no-kata, Goshin Jutsu, Katame-no-kata for under-23s and Ju-no-kata, also for under-23s.
The Canadians competing, Shane Legros and Dan Rusu (Kime-no-kata), Mario Pageau and Martin Vallières (Kime-no-kata), Daniel Bird and Masoud Naeimi (Goshin Jutsu), Allyn Takahashi and Tony Walby (Goshin Jutsu) , as well as Ivan Fournier and Pierre Pelletier (Goshin Jutsu), were unable to reach their respective finals.
