Kenpou tournament: Yanohai

For the 20th time the individual kenpou tournament in the east of Japan was being held

Me, to the left, in my first fight against a shodan

070617, Sunday

Like last Sunday it was time for a new kenpou tournament. Just like the previous time, if you lose your fight, you are out but if you win you may proceed. Me being 1kyuu, I met in my first fight a woman with one rank higher than me, shodan. I had met her once before in April and then I lost so today I had really set my mind to beat her. Which I managed to do, with 2-0 :) Just after a couple of minutes I had my next fight against a woman with 2 dan. It was the same woman I met just last week and lost so poorly against. But this time I knew her strategy, I was rather convinced that she would come running towards me and attacking again so I kept my cool, waited for her to come and then attacked. It went well, I won with 1-0. Just a couple of minutes later I had my next fight against a woman with the same rank as me, 1kyuu. I won with 1-0. Now having had 3 fights, one fight lasts for about 2 minutes, without too much rest I was starting to get tired. Especially since I had won the fights so far by throwing my opponents down, and then you get a bit tired. Nevertheless, without any more rest it was time for a new fight. The opponent was a 1kyuu. I had met her before in April, when I won, and today I managed to win again, with 1-0, by throwing her down. Having won 4 fights, my next fight would be about the 1st and 2nd place. Thankfully I did not have to do this fight right away, I could rest for about an hour. During the four fights I was not nervous but now when I started to realize what this last fight would be about I started to feel a little, little anxiety. My opponent was a 3 dan and she is the captain of the women's team in the east of Japan. Now she is in her last year at university and she has been doing kenpou since high school, that is for 7 years! Compared to my sheer 8 months. One hour passed and it was time. I actually managed to get a hold of her, throw her down and score a point. But then she got a point. I am not quite sure how though, to be honest. Might have been through a kick to my stomach, however it was not a very nice or clear kick so I was really surprised that she got a point! Nevertheless, now it was 1-1 and the next person who would score a point would be the champion of this tournament! I managed to get a hold of her, but she escaped so we both fell outside of the mat. So I could not get a point. After that, I managed to throw her down again, but again she escaped so we fell outside of the mat, meaning I could not get a point this time either. When this happened the 2nd time the three judges actually had a discussion. Sometimes when someone is fleeing all the time the other fighter gets a point. This is what the judges were discussing, but since it was the final I do not think they wanted the fight to end by giving away a point like this. Hence the fight continued. She then managed to get a point by a kick to my stomach. Unlike her first kick, this kick was clear so of course she got a point. This meant my losing with 1-2. I felt SO sad having lost!! :( Because I do not have too many opportunities to enter competitions since I soon have to leave Japan so in this tournament I really had my chance!! And unfortunately I was not able to make the best out of it :( When the fight ended I could not hide my disappointment or hold away the tears :( Nevertheless, I received a big trophy for coming in 2nd place out of 15 women. At that time of course I was still rather disappointed but later I started to become a bit happy thinking about the outcome of this day.