On Saturday 3rd March 2007, the 4th Malta Open International Karate Championships 2007 were held at Savio College in Dingli. The one day event was organised by Shotokan Karate School of Malta Organisational Committee, headed by Chris Galea (Head of SKSM Karate Malta).

This was a huge success, with 367 athletes from 14 countries, Germany, Italy, England, Ireland, Wales, Holland, Tunis, Cyprus, Austria, Scotland, Palestine, Serbia, Poland and, of course, Malta.

The athletes competed in 42 categories, Children, Juniors, Cadets, Seniors Ladies, Seniors Males, Veterans and teams in both Kata (combination of techniques performed by the athletes in front of the judges where points are obtained on perfection, coordination, balance, speed, and agility) and Sport Kumite (when 2 athletes try to touch each other in a specified target area and obtaining the highest points possible in a limited amount of time).

Athletes competing included Jonathan Mottram from England (winner of Kata Male Seniors), who is European, British and Commonwealth Gold Medallist, Corinna Gluck from Austria (Austrian and European Champion) amongst others.

Lucienne Galea (SKSM Malta) won Masters Seniors Kata, not for the first time winning International Competitions locally and abroad.

In Kumite (fighting), James Brunton (North Ireland) won his Gold medal amongst 28 athletes, after a very good challenge offered from our Maltese athlete Michael Attard (SKSM Malta) who finished as runner up. Another brilliant performance was given by the Juniors SKSM team Kata which comprised Dalton Lee Aquilina, Andrew Galea and Kurt Camilleri, who claimed the gold from a pool of 13 teams from different countries. The seniors Team Kata (Luncienne Galea, Michael J. Grima, Anthony Smith) finished 3rd place after Austria and Italy respectively.

In the Kumite section the SKSM Female Seniors Team gave a brilliant show and finished 2nd place after the English Champions team of Toyakwai.

In the Male Team Category, SKSM team finished with a Joint third place after a close encounter with the Palestine Senior team.

The Head of SKSM, Chris Galea, commented that he was extremely pleased with all of his students' commitment and courage and that without any doubt left a very good image of Malta in Karate. The school (SKSM) also managed to get the Second Overall Trophy from a pool 28 organizations (Maltese and foreign) with a stunning result of 7 Gold, 8 Silver and 10 Bronze.

In the meantime an intensive training program is set to all SKSM athletes who are now preparing for the SKSM national Children Karate Championships which are due next month. More information on school’s website.

We look forward to continued success for SKSM school in National and International Competitions.