Every year this event is highly attended by many athletes as it is considered to be one of the highest technical level competitions in Italy – which is also used to select the national squad for Italy. This year this event had and attendance of 1,300 athletes from twenty different countries.
The MKF athletes who chose to attend this competition were Rebecca Spiteri (2nd Kyu KarateKa), Michela Rapa and Annabel Vella (3rd Kyu KarateKa). All three athletes, who are just twelves years of age, have been training for the last six years where they train five times a week for one and a half hours each training session. The training for this competition involved knowing six black belt Kata’s but these M.K.F athletes chose to work on ten, three of them being Shito Ryu Kata’s and one from Goju-Ryu style (other styles of Karate recognised by the World Karate Federation).
All three girls took part in the 12-13 years category which consisted of 23 competitors. The results obtained were: Michela Rapa (1st), Rebecca Spiteri (3rd). Although Annabel Vella’s performance and training was equal to her team members she did not manage to place.
The athletes were accompanied by the MKF Assistant KATA National Coach Michelle Vella and Sensei Frank Vella, both instructors of these three athletes. Mr. Kenneth Abela, President of the M.K.F, was very pleased with the turnout and encouraged the other members of the Federation to participate in future events and benefit from the high level offered by these international competitions.
For those interested in more information on future events of the M.K.F please visit our website: www.maltakarate.com.