Karate kids aim for nationals

Karate kids aim for the nationals
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Oct. 23, 2002

A group of four young martial artists from Burnaby are hoping to blaze a trail to the national championships this year.
Andrea Maikawa, Matt Bickel, Karen Hsieh and Emmett Opdahl represented Burnaby Renshikan last weekend at the first of three B.C. regional qualifying tournmanent on the road to the national championships.
Maikawa picked up second place honours in the girls 10-12 advanced black belt kumite division for the best showing of her Burnaby dojomates at the Oct. 19 event in Kelowna.
Bickel, who won the Sato Cup earlier this year, won third place in the boys 14/15 advanced blackbelt middleweight (under-60 kg) division.
Hsieh, who has picked up gold medals at several regional tournament this season, finished third in the girls 14/15 advanced black belt kumite (under-55 kg) category at the provincial preliminaries.
Emmett qualified for the provincials on the strength of his strong showings at several earlier regional events, but he did not finish in the top three position.
"We have a young team and these kids have all been doing good things at the lower levels for several years," said Renshikan Sensei Sandeep Gill. "This tournament could be the start of something really special."
To qualify for the national championships, the four local competitors must finish in either first or second place after their scores at the three BC tournaments are combined. The next qualifying round is being held Nov. 26 in Coquitlam.