During the Easter long weekend, the Australian Kendo Championships were held in Melbourne. It was a long competition weekend, that started on Easter Friday with a Shinai weigh-in (to make sure our shinai are all legal and safe for use!), and a venue check in session, so we could acclimatise and adapt to the new and freezing cold Melbourne floor. 🥶❄🥶
The 2023 NSW squad
From the Sydney Uni Kendo Club, the following members represented NSW at this event.
Joe Takatori (Men’s Kyu Division)
Kelvin Tran (Men’s Dan Division)
Alan Kishikawa (Men’s Dan Division)
Iris Somera (Women’s Dan Division)
Kelly Kishikawa (Women’s Dan Division)
Samantha Zhong (Women’s Dan Division)
Grazia Nguyen (Women’s Dan Division)
Yihan Lu (Women’s Dan Division)
The USYD representation at the 2023 Australian Kendo Championship
Here are the results of the events:
Individual Events
Men’s Kyu Individual Championship
1st: Joe Takatori (NSW) [USYD]
2nd: Yen-Hsun Wang (VIC)
Equal 3rd: Henry Black (NSW) and Jackson (VIC)
Congratulation to Joe Takatori for his results in the Individuals Men’s Kyu Division!
Men’s Dan Individual Championship
1st: Yoonsu Kim (NSW)
2nd: Alan Kishikawa (NSW) [USYD]
Equal 3rd: Hugh Chang (NSW) and Jayson Chaplin (NSW)
Women’s Kyu Individual Championship
1st: Sandra Chen (VIC)
2nd: Melissa Hobbs (SA)
Equal 3rd: Keunah Choi (NSW) and Clare Rippon (VIC)
Women’s Dan Individual Championship
1st: Kaori Dimovski (VIC)
2nd: Daseul Chun (NSW)
Equal 3rd: Kelly Kishikawa (NSW) [USYD] and Yaya Jeong (VIC)
Well done Kelly, Iris (you are so cheeky) and Samantha on an amazing AKC tournament!
Veterans’ Individual Championship
1st: Yoshiuki Usami (NSW)
2nd: Kenji Sugimoto (ViC)
Equal 3rd: Noriko Matsumoto (VIC) and Toshio Nishimoto (QLD)
Team Events
Men’s Kyu Team Championship
1st: NSW – Joe Takatori [USYD], Ivan Song, Henry Black, Haoming Zou, Olando Mattar, Dante Mattar and Alex Agius
2nd: VIC
3d: SA
The Men’s Kyu team, 1st place!
Men’s Dan Team Championship
1st: NSW – Songwon Chang, Yoonsu Kim, Keisuke Sugihara, Jayson Chaplin, Kelvin Tran [USYD], Alan Kishikawa [USYD], and Clem Guo
2nd: VIC
Equal 3rd: TAS and WA
The Men’s Dan team, 1st place!
Women’s Kyu Team Championship
1st: VIC
2nd: NSW – Agnes Lee, Keunah Choi, Yeonjin Choi, and Liahni Britton
Women’s Dan Team Championship
1st: NSW – Julie Feng, Daseul Chun, Iris Somera [USYD], Kelly Kishikawa [USYD], Samantha Zhong [USYD], Yihan Lu [USYD], and Suhee Cho
2nd: VIC
Equal 3rd: WA and QLD
The women’s Dan team, 1st place!
Teams Kata Championship
1st: NSW (Hugh Chang and Clem Guo)
Runner-up: VIC
Fighting Spirit Award:
Ivan Song (NSW)
Grazia Nguyen (NSW) [USYD]
Hyung Gi Min (NSW)
Clare Rippon (VIC)
Well done Gratia on your fighting spirit award!
We congratulate both our members for their successful campaign and NSW as a state for the impressive results at the 2023 Australian Kendo Championships. The 2024 Australian Kendo Championships will be held in Sydney, so the process for winning the 2024 Australian Kendo Championships has already started.
We would also like to highlight the efforts of our coaching team, in particular Takayama Sensei and Fujisawa Sensei for their efforts in preparing the USYD competitors for the 2023 AKC campaign. These results would not be possible without your continued support and efforts of our club! Thank you very much!
Finally, the 2023 Australian Kendo Championships finished on Tuesday after a national grading, where our club member Ervin Peng was successful in obtaining his 5th Dan. For those who are unaware, obtaining a 5th Dan is an incredibly difficult task, and is only achievable to the most dedicated and skilled Kendo practitioners. If you see Ervin, please do congratulate him on his amazing achievement!
Congratulations Ervin on achieving this lifelong milestone!
Congratulations to Ervin for obtaining his 5th Dan!