14th World Kendo Championships in Brazil Update Page

[Alex]

Michael Komoto is in Brazil representing Kendo World to report on the latest results and happenings. This thread will contain various reports by Mike, and will not be open for comment. Videos will also be uploaded when the tournament begins, so keep up with the play here. Mike is also posting miscellaneous photos of the event and its run-up on his forum photo album here: http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/album.php?albumid=4

Check out the videos in HD on the Kendo World You Tube channel: http://www.youtube.com/KendoWorld/

[mkomoto]

August 26, 2009

“This year, with the global economic crisis, and the H1N1 pandemic, it has been very tough on teams; however, everyone has made a great effort, and cooperated well, so we really expect a great tournament including the best competitors...” - Elizabeth Kodato, General Secretary & Administrative Director of the CKB, and a leading organizing committee member.

“We are doing everything we can to prepare well. We have (in this hotel) taken a conference room for video review and analysis of our practices… and are going there now…” - Chris Yang, Captain of the USA Team.

“Brazil has the influence of many cultures from around the world, and this includes food. But we can say that two types are most popular: Portuguese, and traditional Brazilian, a mixture of European cuisine with the indigenous foods of the native people. One of the really famous dishes is “churrasco” a kind of Bar-B-Que. Traditionally, meats, mainly beef, are roasted on a spit, with little more than salt. In recent times, other types of fare, pork, chicken, sausages and so on, have been included. However; the traditional type is beef…. There is another type of restaurant; they are “riberies”…” (KW) Sorry, I don’t know that word…. “Riberies, they are kind of restaurants in which all you can eat is ribs. I just made that word up…..” – Caio Abramo, CBK Organizing Committee.

“The one thing that is remarkable is the fast response and good preparation of the organizing committee… If I sent a mail, the response would come back immediately. It is unusual anytime, but in particular with such an event as a WKCs. It was a pleasant surprise and made our own preparations go smoothly….” Mikko Salonen, Delegation Manager, Finland

“…It was the first time we saw that ‘rough kendo’ in Taipei. Now, I wonder what direction kendo will take from now on…. I think that in today’s Shimpan (referees’) Seminar there will be discussion and advice to try to reduce this kind of kendo, but even so, from the referee’s position, it is very hard to draw the line. It requires criteria and regulations. We are taught that kendo should be done in a proper manner, but there are no rules that compel the competitors to do so, therefore it is very hard to manage this sort of thing in a match. The Japanese did not expect such rough kendo from the US Team in Taipei, and were visibly off-balanced by it. The Koreans; however, did not let it distract them, and showed that they could beat the roughness with technique and proper kendo. It was an exemplary demonstration. So then it is not the case of Japanese or Korean, but who will succeed by doing proper kendo. From now on, we will see how the future of kendo is to be….” - Rainer Jattkowski, FIK Director, 14WKC Councilor

“…What is important to me is not who wins, but with what kind of kendo they do. Kendo (which is proper and deeply spiritual) is what I would most like to see go on and continue….” “… Kendo is a gift to the World….” - Rainer Jattkowski, FIK Director, 14WKC Councilor

Anti-Doping (relating to performance enhancing drug use) controls will be implemented for the first time in the 14WKCs. In regards to this, members of the Swedish delegation responded: “… it is nothing new to us. The Swedish Sports Confederation, the umbrella organization of all the recognized sports bodies in Sweden already has a protocol in place, and conducted testing for our national championships since last year. The fact that they can do it makes it practical and fiscally possible for us. In the nationals, they tested all the medalists plus one participant that was randomly selected. (by the way, all persons passed without trouble.)” – Dan Fuji, Delegation Leader, and Nils Bjorkegard, Team member, Sweden.

[mkomoto]

August 27

“We have been conducting development and performance training for the last two years. Initially, we started with a broad pool of about 30 or our most talented competitors… with time, by natural attrition and our selection, we came down to our final 10 men and 10 women team… although no one is a professional, we have not been able to practice every day, but we have been meeting most days of the week, and both Saturday and Sunday of each weekend…. Our training has been conducted solely within Brazil… Even though there are only about 900 members in the federation, the level of ability of our team, and the wealth of experience is great. Naturally, we expect a good performance and have the highest hopes for our team.” Roberto Someya, Team Manager, Brazil

An interview with Brazilian Delegation Manager Roberto Someya will be aired in Brazil on Sunday night (Brazil time). It will also be posted to this site online (TV Globo, Brazil’s largest television station):

http://globoesporte.globo.com/Esport...te_Espetacular

Update on the 29th:

Quick results:

The Men's individuals:

1st Teramoto
2nd Park
3rd Kim / Choi

With 1 Japanese and 3 Koreans topping the list, a tense teams event is for certain. Chris Yang lost to Teramoto earlier on, but all eyes will be on the Japanese, US and Korean teams in the early rounds of the teams.

Australian Kirby Smith made it into the best 8, beaten by Teramoto, but with strong showings by the other Aussie men, its not just the top 3 to be watching out for in the remainder of the tournament. Surprises can come from anywhere this year.

Some videos are up already, with more on the way, the link to our You Tube channel is in the first post. Please check them out.

[Alex]

MK is encoding the video for the women's shiai today. We will also be able to upload the men's from yesterday. Sorry for the delay, but it won't be far away.

Women's Teams
1st Japan
2nd Korea
3rd Brazil and USA

Individual results later...

[hamish]

Teams Results:

Semi-Finals:

Japan beats Korea 2-1-2
USA beats Brazil 4-1-0

Finals:

Japan beats USA 4-1.

The niggest nailbiter of the day was the Japan/Korea match, with individuals champion pulling Japan through.

We are working on video now, which we hope to have up in the next few hours.