2011 World Championships in New Zealand

The 2011 World Championships has come to an end, and the USA brings back 2 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 8 bronze medals!

Our two world champions are Julio Carlos for sparring and Joshua Buitrago for patterns!

Julio Carlos receives his medal from GM Van Binh, he is now a two-time WORLD CHAMPION in sparring with his gold medal in the senior male light weight sparring division!

Joshua Buitrago receives his gold medal in junior male second dan patterns, making him a WORLD CHAMPION in patterns.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the coaches and umpires from the USA for all of their hard work to make everything possible. Also a MANY THANKS to the parents and supporters who came loud and proud, cheering on our competitors and sewing on last minute competitor numbers to the backs of uniforms. Thank you all so much for your support. It was a great world championship, and we can’t wait for the next one in Bendidorm, Spain 2013!

DAY 1: The first day saw Ruri Kobayakawa win the first bronze medal for the US in the junior female hyper-weight sparring, followed by Joshua Buitrago and Adrian Santana sweeping the gold and silver medal in 2nd dan junior male patterns, making Joshua Buitrago a patterns world champion. Brandon Yan took the silver in 3rd dan junior male patterns finishing off the morning. In the afternoon, Kiabeth Jimenez and Catherine Lewis took the silver and bronze in the 2nd dan junior female patterns. The junior boys sparring saw Marc Akda and Brandon Yan taking the bronze in the micro junior male sparring to finish off the day with loud cheers going back and forth between the USA and the Argentinians up in the stands.

DAY 2: The second day started off with Anderson Chan getting the silver in 3rd dan senior male patterns and Kevin Fleeman getting the bronze in 1st dan senior male patterns. Chance Rhodes took the silver in senior male power breaking to finish off the morning. In the afternoon, Carlos Resende took the bronze in senior mens heavy weight sparring and Julio Carlos took the gold in the senior mens light weight sparring. Julio Carlos is now a second time sparring world champion.

DAY 3: The third day was junior team events. In a three-way tie for the bronze medal, the junior boys won against much taller competitors in the specialty breaking with Alex Simileysky hitting the flying side kick .

DAY 4: On the last day of competition, Titus Durojaiye and Anderson Chan took the bronze with their pre-arranged sparring routine, bringing in the last medal for Team USA.

GOLD

Julio Carlos – Sr Male Light weight Sparring

Joshua Buitrago – Jr Male 2nd dan Patterns