On 24 August 2019, the “International Sato Cup” took place at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The tournament was organised by the ISKF (International Seishinryu Karate Federation) & IKSSR (Japan Karate-Do Sato-Ha Shito-Ryu).
On 21 August 2019, a 15-strong travel group led by Shihan Athula Minithanthri and including members from the Dhammika Karate-Do dojos and Ikigai Karate-Do (Berlin) set off from Frankfurt Airport to Colombo in Sri Lanka to compete in the International Sato Cup Karate Championship 2019.
After arriving at the airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 22 August 2019 and a surprisingly warm welcome with flowers for the travel group, they first went to the hotel in Negombo, where the travellers were able to recover from jet lag and adjust to the change in climate. This was followed by intensive training sessions in the hotel gardens overlooking the Indian Ocean.
After two days of intensive training under the guidance of Shihan Athula and André Lassen, they headed to the competition location in Colombo on 24 August 2019 well prepared and in a great mood. There, the competition experienced Ebru Baytemür from Dhammika Karate-Do (Beilstein) confidently won the final round of the “Kata Female Seniors” category and took her first gold medal. Corinna Reiter from Ikigai Karate-Do (Berlin) also performed very well in the kata final round of the same age group, but her kata run was not crowned with a medal. Due to her young age, the nervousness before her first major senior tournament probably played a major role, which is why she forgot to bow at the beginning of her final run and was unfortunately disqualified according to WKF rules.
The athletes also performed very well in kumite. At the end, Philipp Klemm from Dhammika Karate-Do (Beilstein), Juliane Stübe and André Lassen from Ikigai Karate-Do in Berlin each took first place and also won the gold medal. This meant that there were no fewer than four gold medallists out of five starters!
The trip from 25 to 31 August 2019 was completed with a fantastic cultural and round trip through Sri Lanka. This included visits to the historic prison island of Fort Hammenhiel in Jaffna, the Buddhist cave temple in Dambulla, the Temple of the Tooth (Sri Dalada Maligawa) in Kandy, the tea plantation in Ramboda and the elephant orphanage in Pinnawela.
Pictures of the tournament and the round trip can be found on the media page. You can also find more information on the Sri Lankan edition of the Daily News.