Karate pals impress at Commonwealth champs

The Commonwealth Karate Championships has just taken place in Wellington and two Northlanders have figured prominently in the competition, as part of a very successful New Zealand team performance.
The event was the second in the modern era with the first being staged in Manchester, England.
Competitors from New Zealand, Australia, England, Wales, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and Botswana travelled here for the event, two weeks ago.
Anton Webb-Rihari from Kerikeri won a gold medal in the Junior Cadet Boys under 65kg, Kumite. In his semifinal he beat the Asian champion from Singapore 7-1 and in the final, accounted for five times Welsh champion, three times British Open champ and five times Dutch Open champion Joshua Rees from Wales 1-nil in extra time, after scores were tied 1-all at full time.
After the competition, Anton told his coach, Craig Nordstrand from Miyagi Kan Karate Club, it was his best performance. It has been a long and hard preparation for the event but all the work paid off when he won the title.
Anton joined another boy from Northland, Aidan Carr of Whangarei, in the New Zealand team. Aidan won bronze in the male Cadet Kata.
Aidan was unlucky in the semifinal against his opponent from Singapore. The result was 3-2 with one of the flags going against him from the New Zealand judge which Craig said was very unlucky. When the call is 50/50 the home flag usually goes with the home team.
Aidan's kata for third was fantastic with all five flags going against his Australian opponent. This kata was commented on generally, by several other coaches and referees and was probably better than the winning kata done by the English boy.
Aidan said his time and effort put into training paid off when he was third on the podium. Aidan is also coached by Craig.
Both boys have had to go through a huge training plan this year to gain these results. They have attended national team camps in Wellington, and Auckland. They also travelled to Australia in July for extra training with our master alongside other champions from that club.
Aidan started Karate with the club in 1997 as a seven-year-old. He has been a black belt for six years. Now at 16 he has been the national champion for over three years, this year winning four golds at the NZ Open, in all his divisions. In the biggest final of the day for the cadets and juniors both Aidan and Anton fought it out with Aidan winning 1-nil. I might add that Anton has beaten Aidan twice this year in two tournaments held in Whangarei.
Anton is currently the 15-year-old national champion. Anton joined the club in 2000 and has been a black belt for three years. He won an Oceania Gold for team kata in Sydney in 2002 and two silvers for Kumite for the last two Oceania championships.
Anton trains at the Kerikeri dojo, while Aidan trains at the main dojo in Whangarei. Anton travels down most weekends to do extra training with Aidan, along with several other national champions that are based with the club of various ages.
England won seven senior golds at the Commonwealth Championships, Malaysia won three, Wales three, and Australia two. The New Zealand team were very successful with two senior golds going to Chris Bennett of Auckland and Stephanie Simmons of Wellington.
Both Anton and Aidan would like to thank Karate Northland for the financial help given to them, to help towards the cost of competing in Wellington.
The club is continually looking for sponsors for their talented students and both boys need to advance their experience of international events outside the Oceania level.
The next Commonwealth championships is at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.