Led by Trinidad and Tobago trained Sensei Garfield Newton, the Black Hawk Martial Arts club, based at the South Ruimveldt Secondary School, took home 29 medals at the recently concluded two-day martial arts show at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The two-day annual event was put on by the Harpy Eagles Martial Arts Academy and titled Second Annual Exhibition of the Martial Arts tournament.
The event held on July 19 and 20 saw fierce competition among the more than 100 martial arts students who participated.
According to Sensei Newton, Team Black Hawk fielded a team of 18 artists including himself and walked away with two overall Grand Champions trophies.
Newton himself was declared Kumite champion while Roshan Samsundar won the Kata category. Bertram Williams copped three firsts in the Continuous Sparring, Kata and Kumite categories. Overall the team walked away with 12 gold, 12 silver and five bronze medals. Notable performers were Pat Legall, who beat his Black Hawk teammate Danel Maison for the Kumite title but lost the Kata to him; Corwin D’Anjru first in the Weapons Kata; Hobert Bhagwandeen, first in the Kumite category and the only female from the 18-member team, 10-year-old Denoila Bristol, who walked away with first place in the Kata and second place in the Kumite categories.
According to Sensei Newton he was a member of the Guyana Amateur Karate Association (GAKA) that took part in a goodwill tournament with neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago in the early 2000s and was noticed by Trinidad and Tobago 10th Dan Kana Ju Jitsu Grandmaster Christopher Francis who took him under his wings after recognizing his ability.
He added that Grandmaster Francis recognized the vast potential that Guyanese possessed and encouraged him to pass on his skill and this is what he did when he returned home.
At first he went to various schools in Georgetown and started to teach the art and presently his Black Hawk club has about 25 members.
Newton says that he wants to make his Grandmaster proud one day after being told that the potential that Guyanese possess they should not only be competing amongst Caribbean nationals but should look to go worldwide and put Guyana on the Martial arts map.
