The Purple Dragon National Karate 2013 Championships recently took place at the St Ignatious Catholic School. 113 people took part in the tournament with participants coming from Purple Dragon Cayman Head Quarters, Purple Dragon Crewe Road and Shotokan Karate Association. The tournament was open to all Cayman karate schools and took place across all categories, ages and abilities – sparring, katas, self- defense and weapons for beginners, intermediate, advanced and black belt levels.
Purple Dragon Martial Arts instructor, Sensei Floyd Baptiste said he was delighted with how the tournament went. It was great for martial arts in Cayman to have a National event where all schools were invited to participate. Some of our pupils, particularly the younger ones have never competed against anyone outside their school, so it was a great experience for them from a competitive and a social perspective.”
The tournament was an invaluable learning opportunity for students hoping to attend the World Purple Dragon Championships in Trinidad next year which attracts over 1,000 competitors from around the world.
“With the World Purple Dragon Karate Championships next year, our national tournament gave students the chance to get another competition under their belt, to practice some new routines and to familiarize themselves with competing”, stated Sensei Floyd Baptiste.
Two outstanding competitors who were specially recognized as winners of the MVP award – both Leonard Lewis and Lance Jefferson received the most points overall across all categories.
The team events, as always, proved popular with the spectators including team sparring (over 18) won by Steffen Pitta, Leonard Lewis and Phillip Bodden, team sparring (U18) won by Dante Baptiste, Mathew Meghoo, Sean Byles and Steffen Pitta, team sparring (mixed) won by Susan Eden, Mario Dadal and Leonard Lewis, and the team forms won by Luke Byles and Leonard Lewis.
There were many individual winners – all of whom are listed on the Purple Dragon Cayman Island website atwww.purpledragon.ky.
The tournament was sponsored by major sponsors Cayman Islands Ministry of Health, Environment, Youth, Sports & Culture and Tower Marketing. Other sponsors included Samson & McGrath, Atwater, Sprint Express Services, Cayman National, LC Moneyplan & Sameena’s Beauty Centre.
“We would like to thank our sponsors, our many volunteers and our members for their constant support and enthusiasm,” said Sensei Geddes Hislop.
The Purple Dragon Martial Arts School is located inside the Mirco Centre, 294 North Sound Way Industrial Park they can be reached by phone on 946-1241 or via email at purple@candw.ky.
CayCompas.com – 3June 2013
Radio Cayman – 22 May 2013
Cayman 27 – 2 May 2013
