Ten (10) successful karatekas out of 11 passed the grade that made them first Dan black belt karatekas when the Guyana Japan Karate Association (GJKA) held its grading exercise at the National Gymnasium on Sunday last.
Over 148 students from five (5) dojos displayed their skills in front of the judges including Master sensei Frank Woon-A-Tai with 137 graduating in various kyus and amongst those that were successful in their first Dan examinations were, Leonardas Persaud, Shellon and Tamika Nicholas and Nikita Clark. Rajesh Ramarttar was not successful owing to a fault in his stance.
Thirty six (36) karatekas were awarded the yellow belt (8kyu), nine (9) received the orange (7kyu), 17 received green (6kyu), 24 were awarded purple (5kyu), six (6) were successful and received 4 kyu (also purple), 14 were given brown (3kyu), 11 received 2 kyu (brown) and 20 were awarded their brown (1kyu).
Tavis Prashad and Melissa Mitchell were outstanding in their division, with Prashad jumping from the 8kyu to 6kyu and Mitchell from 7kyu to 5 kyu.
Today, the Guyana Karate College will hold its first grading examinations at the same venue from 1700hrs. Master sensei Woon-A-Tai who is the third highest ranked sensei in the world, will once again be the chief judge in these examinations.
