Nationally, a tally of 69 medals were earned by Dorfman karate competitors at the Karatenomichi World Federation (KWF) South Africa senior and youth championship in all sections – from novice to the elite open sections.
The open sections yielded 13 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 10 bronze medals, making those competitors eligible to be selected for the South African national team to compete later in the year in Japan.
The senior champions to emerge from this national championship were Nick Baker in male black belt kata; and Prianka Pillay, a third dan who became female KWF world kata senior champion for the second time, having previously won this title in 2011. Pillay also took third place with a bronze medal in the female world kumite senior championship.
In the U21 category, the gold medallists were Robin Gast in male open kata, Tori Milasinovich in female open kata; and in the U18 age category, Damien Wantenaar in male open kata.
Silver medals in the various open kata divisions were won by Liesl Lohlun (senior), Dean Heyman (youth), and children Rafaella Lipschitz, Matthew Sweeney, Catherine Sweeney and Dylan Harry.
In kumite, the silver medals went to Tori Milasinovich in both the senior and youth categories; and in the children categories, silver went to Joshua Organ, Raffaella Lipschitz and Noa Burke.
Bronze medals in the various open sections were won by Gast, Milasinovich, Wantenaar, David Hamlyn, Aaron Friedlein, Gadija Essop, Burke, Jared Hermann and Harry.
Kevin Croft, a fourth dan, took second place in the male world kata senior championship.
In the younger categories, individual glory and world titles went to Lipschitz in the U16 kumite category; and Jordan Voigt in the U12 kumite category. Tihan Enslin earned a silver medal after being pipped into second place in the U14 kata category. Further glory for South Africa was the clear win and world champion team title in the U16 team category for the Dorfman three-person unison kata team of Grant Booysen, Enslin and Lipschitz.
Details: www.dorfmankarate.co.za
