Karate duo excel at recent championships

Two of the athletes from Tebbutt’s Kickboxing Academy based at Panorama Sports Club in Radiokop came home bearing lots of trophies.

The duo took part at the all styles tournament that took place recently.

The tournament that was dubbed All Styles Championships was hosted by Tebbutt’s Academy together with United Martial Arts South Africa.

The tournament, which is said to have been running for many years now, came with a new twist this year. Martial artists were able to compete in different styles from traditional karate, kung fung, judo, boxing and kickboxing.

Cassie Stadler, who is an instructor at Tebbutt’s Kickboxing academy at Panorama Sports Club said they had about 400 participants.

Stadler explained that this is the only event in the country that accommodates all martial styles in one event.

Eight-year-old Casey Stadler came back with five trophies. She won first place for points fighting and musical weapon kata. For Own creative kata, she was placed second and for kumiti and continuous fighting she was in third place.

Another athlete from the academy Logan Stadler (13) who is also the youngest black belt holder in the country, returned home with seven trophies from the championships. Logan won first place for continuous fighting, points fighting, traditional kata, weapon kata, creative kata and traditional weapons. He was placed second for traditional kumiti and got third place for tile breaking.

Head and chief instructor of the academy, Master Alex Tebbutt, said he was pleased with the performance of the girls who participated in the tournament. “I’m exceptionally proud of my girls, they always do extremely well at tournaments.”

Tebbutt also highlighted that this year’s tournament was special. “The club family stood together and we received messages from participants who said they were pleased with how things were run.”

He encouraged different clubs under his belt to continue preparing for upcoming tournaments.