Dhammika athletes at the German Championships in Erfurt

Last weekend, four athletes from Dhammika Karate-Do took part in the German Championships U16, U18 and U21 in Erfurt after qualifying through their placings at the Baden-Württemberg state championships.

In the youth kata boys category, Sanidu Hewa from Dhammika Karate-Do e.V. Seebronn performed the kata Unshu in his first round. He lost to the later pool finalist Leano Kabisch, who performed Enpi. Leon de Silva from the Dhammika karate department of the SVGG Hirschlanden-Schöckingen competed in the same category. Performing the kata Nipaipo, he was defeated by Michele Steverding from Karate Zanshin Bergisch Gladbach who also did the kata Enpi.
Linda Sankin from Dhammika Karate-Do Abstatt took part in her first German championships in the U21 women’s kata category. Unfortunately, she met the so-called “child prodigy” and national squad athlete Parla Doaa Tatar from the Goju-Ryu Karate Club Schifferstadt in round 2. So, there was a good chance that she would make it into the repechage rounds, but surprisingly, Parla lost the following pool finals against Janine Narboada from USC Duisburg. In the category juniors kata girls, Emilia Miller from the Dhammika Karate department of SC Ilsfeld narrowly lost to Zineb Bouharna from SKO Wismar.
Joel Bracher from Kime Budosport/MTV Ludwigsburg achieved a strong third place in kata in the junior kata boys category (U18). In kumite, he made 7th place.

Despite the results, all the athletes put in great performances. With the exception of Sanidu, the German Championships were completely new territory for all of the Dhammika Karate-do competitors. Nevertheless, they all gained valuable experience and will certainly continue to improve and come back even stronger at the next competitions.