TT sweep karate Championship trophies

The team comprising Purple Dragon students from Dojos across the country, took top honours in the Junior Forms Grand Championships in the male and female categories, Junior Weapons Grand Championships Girls division, Female Weapons Championships, Sports Jiu-Jitsu Grand Championships, Three-person team sparring, male and female divisions, the men’s two-person team sparring and the Team Demo competition.

However, TT proved to be no match for the Police Athletic League of USA, Purple Dragon school of Dominica and a combined international forces team in the Team Demo competitions.

They stunned the crowd with a presentation that honored the school’s 40th anniversary milestone.

The students perfectly emulated Professor Don Jacob’s demonstrations from venues around the world, as they simultaneously showed their superiority in the demo.

Another highlight of the night was the demolition of Jamaica’s Future Leaders in the three-man team sparring by team TT which comprised Sensei Daniel Jacob, son of professor Don Jacob, Sensei Kamau Drayton and Instructor Adrian Browne.

TT whipped their Jamaican counterparts 4-0 in the opening bout and 2-0 in the second. Then the junior Jacob (Daniel) sealed the win for TT with a 5-0 triumph over his Jamaican opponent for an overall 11-0 TT score.

The local Sensei had a more difficult challenge against PAL, USA in the two — man team sparring as extra time was needed to break the scoring deadlock. The battle was particularly close in the fight between five-time world champion Mario Holloway of the US and Sensei Derek Timothy, head instructor at Purple Dragon headquarters in Barataria.

The scores were one-all at the end of the opening fight between top TT sensei Arnold King and USA’s Ronald Grady. Later the teams failed to separate themselves at the end of Timothy and Halloway’s encounter, finishing at two-apiece.

In an additional one-minute period, however, Trinidad and Tobago pulled off a slim 8-7 win, thanks to King’s doggedness.

TT topped the overall medal count in the two-day competition with a preliminary result of 315 medals. Canada were second with 74 while the USA finished third with 59 and Jamaica fourth on 25. A final tally is expected to be released this week.

Apart from the local Purple Dragon schools competing in the tournament, there were three Purple Dragon schools from Canada, three from the USA and one each from Dominica, Tortola, Cayman Islands, UK and Grenada.

Local non-Purple Dragon schools in attendance were: Capoiera Axe, Golden Eagle and Shaolin Temple. Other international schools were: Future Leaders of Jamaica; Society of Shotokan Specialists, Bahamas, PAL USA, Canada’s Best Karate and a school from Venezuela. Specially invited guests Billy Blanks, Kendo expert Michael Komoto and Professor Robert Crosson all gave demonstrations of their skills in their preferred martial arts style on Saturday night.

In an emotional thank you speech at the end, professor Jacob explained his friendship with guests Blanks, Kendo and Crosson dated back an amazing 20 years.

He he also introduced his three Shihans, Johnny Madrid, Anthony Thompson and Neal Hewitt, who have been members of the Purple Dragon organisation from inception.