对于我社来说，上周是漫长的一周。于12月1日和2日，我们分别参加了2018年新南威尔士州锦标赛和等级考试。经过一年血汗交织（以及破碎的竹剑）的付出，我们顺利结束并取得了好成绩：
It was a long weekend for the USYD Kendo club as it participated in the 2018 NSW States Championships & Grading on the 1st / 2nd of December. After a year of blood, sweat and broken shinais, we have finished off with some great results which are as follows:
Dan Kata Team
- 1st place – Kelvin Tran / Nobuko Fujito
Under 16’s Individuals
- 1st place – Kelly Kishikawa
Kyu Men Individuals
- 2nd place – Victor Kuo
- 3rd place – Paolo Usares / Halley Tan
Kyu Women Individuals
- 1st place – Elva Shi
- 2nd place – Yanjun Zeng
Dan Women Individuals
- 2nd place – Masano Konishi Sensei
- 3rd place – Nobuko Fujito
Dan Men Individuals
- 2nd place – Hajime Narita
- 3rd place – Alan Kishikawa
Kyu Team
- 2nd place – USYD Team
- Jeffery Chung / Macca Hou / Victor Kuo / Halley Tan / Paolo Usares
Open Women Team
- 2nd place – USYD Team
- Mory Zhao / Nobuko Fujito / Masano Konishi Sensei
Dan Men Team
- 1st place – USYD Team
- Alan Kishikawa / Dai Yamashita / Tomonori Hu / Kelvin Tran/ Hajime Narita
Fighting Spirit Awards
- Elva Shi
- Alan Kishikawa
从早上八点，新州锦标赛开始了筋疲力尽的长达12个小时的比赛。这之中有很多紧张的时刻，而比赛有些短暂迅捷，也有些漫长而攻势凌厉又绵延不绝。
Starting from 8AM, the NSW States Championships was a gruelling 12 hour event with many intense and close moments ranging from a short, swift matches to long, fierce enchos.
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- Kyu Kata Team (Rachel & Elva)
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- Dan Kata Team (Nobuko & Kelvin)
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- Victor defending against Paolo’s strikes
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- His Do is open Halley!
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- Dai overwhelming his opponent
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- Alan landing a decisive men cut
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- Rocky vs Tomo in an episode of ‘Battle of the Titans’
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- Hajime fighting off Park Sensei at the final Taisho match
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- Our strongest players, the Dan…
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- …team?
最后，恭喜全员通过了考级！尽管大家为了考级而尽了全力练习，但让我们把这一切当作自己剑道技术的新的基础，并建立新的目标去努力然后更进一步吧！
Last but not least, congratulations to everyone that passed grading! Although everyone worked hard for their grades, let’s now use it as the new basis of your Kendo skills and set new goals around it to improve even more!
(Credits for photography: Gabriel Vu & Tomonori Hu)