TT trio golden at New York Karate Open

The victorious karatekas are fourth dan black belt, Cindy Guevara, brown belt Tehera Jones and six-year old purple belt, Anamika Toyer.

Toyer captured her gold medal in the kumite (sparring) competition and also attained bronze in the kata competition. Jones secured her gold medal in kata and earned a silver in kumite. Guevara attained gold in kumite and silver in kata. This was the first overseas international tournament for Toyer and Jones.

Guevara has won numerous medals and trophies over the years and has coached several teams inclduing at her club under Sensei Neville Mason as well as for Trinidad and Tobago under the governing body, Trinidad and Tobago Karate Union (TT KU), where she coached the first international team in Curacao.

She has been nominated for the First Citizens Sportswoman of the Year award once and WITCO’s Sportswoman of the Year four times in her career as a karateka. Her victory in New York is significant as it is her first international gold medal, having won silver at the same competition in 2015 and bronze at the SKIF World championships in Australia in 2012.

The future is promising for the two younger karatekas, Jones and Toyer, who show potential to be great athletes. They aim to one day represent the country at the Olympic Games if karate continues to be one of the competing sports.