After being out of the tournament scene for almost three years because of the Covid 19 pandemic the Cayman Islands chapter of Purple Dragon International School of martial arts, hosted a Point Sparring karate tournament on Saturday June 25th at the John Gray High School Auditorium. Forty-six martial artists ranging from ages 5 years to 62 years competed in the friendly battle. Competitors were divided in different divisions by age, ranks and gender. Points were awarded to competitors delivering a clear strike to the designated scoring area on their opponent. Each match had a one-minute time limit for competitors to accumulate as many points as possible.
“I was very happy with the number of competitors that turned up and the high level of enthusiasm demonstrated, I’m happy we were able to pull it off without any serious injuries apart from the normal bumps and bruises” said Shihan Floyd Baptiste, head coach and organizer of the tournament. High lights were in the men’s open advanced rank division (red- black belts), five competitors battled it out in one-minute accumulated point matches with 21-year-old Dante Baptiste immerging as the victor over Steffen Pitta with a score of four points to two. Another action-packed division was the boys 7–9 year-old beginners with Alexander Hislop and Nathaniel Durrant battling it out after beating out a field of six other competitors Alexander was the eventual first place winner with Nathaniel in second place. “I was really impressed with the level of skills displayed by everyone especially the little guys they are amazing” said Mr. Ian Downing parent of two kids in Purple Dragon.
What’s next? “We are using these local competitions to prepare our athletes to return to international competition circuit, which has been severely depressed because of Covid19 but is beginning to open back up now. Our next local event will be a Forms competition where the martial arts students will get to work on the artistic aspect,” said Shihan Floyd. For more information about the Purple Dragon martial arts programs for youth and adult you can contact them at purpledragoncayman@gmail.com of call 946-1241
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