Two Victoria karate athletes won medals at the Canadian Junior National Karate Championships this past weekend (May 3-5) in Edmonton, Alberta. Anika Ocean Elliott (12/13-year-old -42kg female kumite division) and Malia Brodie (16/17-year-old -53kg female kumite division) both earned bronze medals on the 2nd day of the 3-day competition. This was the first National Championships attended by both athletes who train with Coach Kraig Devlin at Varsity Performance Karate.
Approximately 440 athletes, 56 coaches and 56 officials from across the country participated in the annual event in the disciplines of kata and kumite. Athletes must qualify through their home province in order to attend as part of the official provincial team. As this event is used to select Canada’s Junior National Team, both Varsity Performance Karate athletes earned a place on the Junior National Team Roster and may be considered for a spot on the 2019 Junior National Team.
Also attending the event from Varsity Performance Karate were: Guillaume Claude who narrowly missed the podium with a hard-fought 5th place finish in the U21 -75kg male kumite; Olivia Brodie who placed 7th in both the female 14/15 year-old kata division and the female 14/15 -47kg kumite divisions; and Irvin Goraya who placed 9th in the 16/17 year-old +76kg kumite.
