NKF Finals Video & Results

The definitive product of untold hours of training and personal sacrifice, the USANKF team trials represents the last hurdle between America’s aspiring athletes and a spot on USA’s Tokyo-bound 2008 WKF team.

Beginning with kata Dr. Clay Morton performed what most would agree to be the strongest performance of the shotokan kata Gojushiho-sho. Clay really turned up for this event a seasoned competitor with multiple world championship medals for shotokan competitions he place 5th in the 2006 WKF Championship in Tampere. William Louie Bradford a young competitor definitely on his way to the top performed a beautiful Chantan Yara Kusanku in the finals. William a junior world gold medallist has a bright future a head of him.

Eimi Kurita of Hawaii went against Megan Cechetti in the finals Eimi who earned the bronze medal in kata at the 2006 WKF world Championship performed an amazing Chantan Yara Kusanku. Megan did a beautiful job with the shotokan kata Unsu. Eimi solidified her spot on the team as she wowed the judges and the crowd with her performance.

A special thanks to Howard High for filming and editing the video.

2008 WKF division winners
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-65 kg
George Kotaka vs Brandis Miyazaki ( 4 - 1 )
Miyazaki breezed comfortably through his preliminary matches with a style reminiscent of his adversary, Kotaka. The finals were a different story. In less than a minute George had established that he’s truly a fighter with no peer. Between lightning fast attacks and abnormally smooth movement, George put on a one man show. After flooring Brandis with a combination to the body in the early moments of the match, George floated lightly around the ring and all the way to his 4 -1 victory.



-70 kg
Brian Mertel vs Roberto Munoz ( 3 – 1 )
In what was perhaps the most tactical match of the evening, Brian Mertel made good use of his superior ring sense and experience. The first point was not scored until almost halfway through the match when Munoz made a jodan attack that fell just a few inches short and Brian followed up with a clear counter. Brian’s next point, a textbook chudan counter, was even more convincing. Yet despite the score, Munoz was in no way left behind, he sharpened up considerably in the last minute of the match scoring a beautiful jodan combination, however the time and momentum were not on his side. Mertel, who has beaten several world champions in the past two years, showed once again that his stable and methodical style can wear down any opponent. ( Lucky for us Willy Strohmeyer of Colorado a top competitor posted this video on Youtube as we were unable to film a couple of matches - thanks for posting this so we could share it)



-75 kg
Adam Older vs Troy Hirschkorn ( 2 – 1 )
In a long overdue change of category, Older moved up from -70 kg to the -75 kg weight class on the back of his April victory at the North American Cup (-80 kg). Hirschkorn also changed categories from -80 kg to -75 kg, and though he appeared to have picked up some speed, he made little use of his usually dangerous left leg kicks. Neither fighter appeared overly anxious to fight for the lead. After Adam took the lead in a corner tussle, he held up his defenses straight through to his victory.

-80 kg
John Fonseca vs Chris Wood ( 4 – 0 )
When Fonseca steps in the ring, fireworks aren’t far behind. The finals were no exception. In a repeat of last year’s final, John took the match. What was different were the clear improvements Woods had made in his fighting style. Woods pressured and attacked Fonseca around the match, but John’s speed and experience narrowly prevailed in every clash. After securing an early 1 – 0 lead with a chudan gyaku, John cleared up any doubts with repeated body kicks jodan attacks that left him with a clear 4 – 0 victory.

+80 kg
William Finegan vs David Rodriguez ( 3 – 2 )
Rodriguez, arguably the fighter with the best defenses on the US team, was pushed to the limit by Finegan’s repeated and powerful combination attacks. At the end of the long and rough battle, Finegan narrowly edged out Rodriguez in encho-sen (overtime). David took the lead early on with a chudan gyaku zuki. As the match came to a close Finegan was leading up 2-1 but in the final seconds an evasive movement turned into a slip and penalty for Billy which equalized the match. Enchosen was won with a quick uraken by Billy.



OPEN
John Fonseca vs David Rodriguez ( 4 – 0 )
The open final was the last match of the event and the second match for both of the fighters. Unfortunately for David, his match with Finegan had clearly taken its toll. As each minute passed David offered less and less resistance against Fonseca’s chopping body kicks and thumping gyaku-zukis. Once again John won his match un-scored upon.



FEMALE

-53 kg
Ashley Hill vs Marisabel Molina ( 1 – 0 )
Few would disagree that, apart from Ramrup, Ashley Hill has the best kicking attacks in the country. This makes her every match exciting and this final was no exception despite the 1 – 0 score. After a few failed kicks, Hill grabbed the lead with a jodan zuki that resulted in her victory.

-60 kg
Cheryl Murphy vs Eimi Kurita ( 5 – 2 )
Patient and careful, Cheryl stalked the light footed Kurita around the ring. In the early moments, Eimi scored a body punch that gave her the lead for the majority of the match. Then with less than a minute left, Cheryl scored a beautiful jodan ura-mawashi (face hook kick) counter kick that cemented her victory.



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Congratulations are due to Elisa and John, their victories solidified four spots on the WKF team for the Fonseca-Au family!

Gold Medal Team Kata - USANKF 2008 (Women)

Gold Medal Team Kata - USANKF 2008