An all-female team of five athletes from Varsity Performance Karate earned eight medals at the 20th edition of the Sato Cup held November 16th at the BCIT gymnasium in Burnaby, BC. The annual karate event drew over 300 competitors from BC, Washington State, Oregon and even as far away as from Japan. The event held divisions for kumite (sparing), kata (forms) and weapons.
10-year-old Yashita Kaku earned double bronze medals in both kata and kumite while 14-year-old teammate Ella Crowle also took bronze in the 16/17-year-old girls +53 kg kumite division while fighting up an age category.
Sister Malia and Olivia Brodie brought home a medal of each colour (gold, silver and bronze) and a part of the winning of the actual Sato Cup between them. Malia earned a sliver medal in the 16/17 girls -53kg kumite division while sister Oliver dominated the girls -52 kg kumite divisions to win gold and also took a bronze medal away from the 14/15-year-old female kata division. Olivia was also selected to the Mixed Team Kumite for BC that defeated opponents from Washington and Oregon States to take the Sato Cup in a best-of-three team kumite match.
Rounding out the medal haul was 19-year-old Sofia Devlin who earned a gold in the women’s Open kumite division due to lack of adversary and a silver in the +61 kg women’s kumite division.
The team was supported by Varsity Performance Karate Head Coach Kraig Devlin.