On August 23, The 4th World Weight Category Championships 2009 took place in Chiba, Japan. Main judge was Kancho Shokei Matsui. Opening ceremony was done by Sensei Kyosuke Machida. International Committee Members: Shihan Seiji Isobe, Shihan Loek Hollander, Shihan Peter Chong, as well as IKO Adviser Shihan Yuzo Goda were the special guests. During the opening ceremony Shihan Seiji Isobe was awarded 8th dan, and Sensei Artur Hovhannisian who completed 100 Man Kumite test in March, was awarded 4th dan.
   Four European fighters entered the finals. Alejandro Navarro from Spain (heavy weight) and Zahari Damianov from Bulgaria (superheavy weight) became the World Vice Champion, Piotr Moczydlowski from Poland was third in lightweight and Krzysztof Habraszka was fourth in superheavy weight category. The winners are: Yuzo Suzuki (-70kg), Zenjuro Mori (-80kg), Kentaro Tanaka (-90kg) and Mihail Kozlov (+90kg).
   On August 21 to 23, The 2009 Women's World Championships, The 2009 World Youth Elite Championships, The 2009 International Youth Championships,  The 2009 International Kata Championships took place. The whole event called International Karate Friendship in 2009 gathered about 1600 competitors from all over the world and was a great success.
   Organiser of the event was IKO Kyokushinkaikan, lead by Kancho Shokei Matsui.

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RESULTS:
4th World Weight Category Kyokushin Karate Championships

Women's World Championships

    Record number of 400 participants entered The 36th East European Summer Camp, that was held in Cracow, Poland on July 22-26. This year's special instructors were Shihan Katsuhito Gorai (IKO General Secretary, from New York) and Sensei Artur Hovhannisian (2007 Karate World Championships bronze medalist, from Armenia). Sensei Guests were invited by the organiser - Shihan Andre Drewniak (EKKO General Secretary, from Poland).

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   Assisting instructors were: Shihan Wlodzimierz Roj, Shihan Eugeniusz Dadzibug, Sensei Jan Gruba and Sensei Andrzej Manecki from Poland. Guest assistant and japanese language interpreter was Senpai Andrzej Zacharski from Tokyo.
    There were participants from 11 european countries: Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Lihuania, Latvia, Moldova, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland. On the last day of the camp the examination took place. The event finished the Sayonara Party where students performed music and comedic skits to entertain the instructors.
   Organiser of the camp was Polish Kyokushinkai Organisation, led by Shihan Andre Drewniak.
   Next year, the camp is planned on July 21-25, 2010.

official poster - souvenir of the camp

   On 6-12 July, The 3rd Bulgarian Kyokushin Karate Summer Camp Kamchia 2009 took place in Kamchia (near Varna). 534 karateka from 23 clubs in Bulgaria as well 30 karateka from Russia, leaded by Sensei: Sergey Plekhanov, Viktor Gorn, Andrey Andreev and Vladimir Luybrovski.
   Training sessions were held twice a day and included kihon, kumite and kata. During the camp special trainings with gloves, judge seminar and General Meeting of Members of Bulgarian Karate Kyokushin Federation took place. 
   All the expenses for transportation, accommodation, security, beach guarding, medical cost and etc. were sponsored by Bulgarian Karate Kyokushin Federation. Until now this was the biggest sport camp in Bulgaria for all Olympic and non Olympic sports.

   On July 6 - 10 in Papendal (Holland) The 42th West European Summer Camp took place with participation of about 130 participants from 10 european countries. The camp program was prepared by Shihan Loek Hollander. Special guests were: Shihan Antonio Pinero (Spain), Shihan Andre Drewniak (Poland), Shihan Stuart Corrigal (Canada), Shihan Tsutomu Wakiuchi (Italy) and Sensei Brad Gillespie (Canada). Trainings included kihon, kata, kumite and everyday practice of three Bo kata, Bassai dai kata and self-defense.

   On June 20 in New York's Manhattan College, The 2009 All American Open Karate Championships took place. The honorary guest of the championships was Kancho Shokei Matsui. Official opening was done by Shihan Andre Gilbert.
   Krzysztof Habraszka European Champion from Poland won the prestigious men kumite open category and became the  second All American Champion from Europe in the history of this tournament. 10 out of 14 editions of All American Championships were won by Brazilians, two by Japanese and one by Bulgarian.
   Two members of EKKO judges committee took part in the international judges seminar: Shihan Stanislav Blizniuk and Sensei Jacek Czerniec.
   Annual event organised by IKO Kyokushinkaikan International Department lead by Shihan Katsuhito Gorai, was again a great success.

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