Two members of the Taneda Karate Dojo competed at the 2012 Karate Canada National Championships in Richmond the weekend before last.
Claire Boothe won gold in the 16/17-year-old -47kg Kumite (sparing) and Jackson Tribe captured the bronze in the 14/15-year-old -63kg Kumite.
Boothe, competing in her third national championships, had a great tournament. Competing in the final event of day two she had the entire B.C. team behind her cheering her on.
With all the support of the team behind her she was able to win every one of her four fights on her way to winning gold and becoming national champion.
The gold medal match was entertaining and went back and forth for the entire match.
Tribe, in his first nationals, had a breakthrough tournament.
The way the draw worked out Jackson had to do four fights in a row with little break in between.
Tribe won the first two easily and managed to hang on to win the third.
By the fourth fight Jackson was getting pretty tired but he managed to take an early lead in the fight.
His opponent managed to tie the fight and even take the lead with 15 seconds to go.
This put Tribe in a tight spot trailing the fight with 15 seconds to go and no gas left in his tank but he managed to find the energy he needed to score a nice punch at the buzzer to tie the fight.
Unfortunately Tribe lost the referee decision that would have put him in the gold medal match.
Tribe dug deep at the end to even make it to the referee decision.
Tribe ended up with the bronze medal.
By placing in the top three both Boothe and Tribe have qualified to be members of the Canadian National Team.
As members of the National Team Boothe and Tribe are both eligible to represent Canada at the Pan-American Championships in Cancun Mexico at the end of August.
Boothe will also represent Canada at the North America Cup in Las Vegas on April 5.
Both Boothe and Tribe will represent Canada at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas on April 8.
The members of the Taneda Karate Dojo were coached by Mike Ditson of the Taneda Karate Dojo.
Ditson has been a member of the B.C. Team coaching staff for four years.
He will also be coaching these athletes at the North America Cup, Junior Olympics and U.S. Open in Las Vegas next month.
For more information contact the Dojo office by phone at 250-768-2241, by email at tanedakaratedojo@shaw.ca, on the web site at www.tanedakaratedojo.com or on Facebook page at facebook.com/tanedakaratedojo