by Papua New Guinea’s Sempai Sailas Piskaut drew strength from the national flag to serve notice at the door-steps of the home of Kyokushin karate with a spurring performance in the highly acclaimed all Japan IKO Fukushima Open Championships last Saturday.
The annual challenge which is only open to invited competitors only draws the best in a full-contact knockdown stand-up fighting contest.
The second dan black belt holder was competing well above his weight in the senior division.
The lone PNG fighter however did his country and the South Pacific proud by finishing a credible third and was voted the Most Spirited Fighter in a proud moment.
The New Irelander was in fact one step away from competing for the all Japan champion’s tag.
Piskaut who carried an injury (calf) from his lead-up training in Lae still managed to beat four tough Japanese opponents on points to make the final four.
It was tough making it to the finals stage as I took on very experienced fighters from Japan.
In the semi-final I pushed my well respected opponent to two extensions before losing by a mere point.
I lost on a technical decision…basically from a lack of experience from not being able to compete at this level on a regular basis
Sempai Sailas Piskaut, Nidan
He said he gave it all and but did find some solace and became emotional when they called him out to receive his Most Spirited Fighter’s trophy award.
I got emotional as I was on my own and managed to gain respect amongst the best. That however comes with the trade of not being a recognized sport in PNG and the battles we fight are mostly with ourselves to gain recognition more than anything else and to maintain that legacy of those that came before me.
I have never experienced anything like this before.
I happy that I managed to come this far as it is all about maintaining that high bar of excellence that was set by Sensei Walter Schnaubelt and those that followed including Sempai Bernard Soari, late Sensei Paul Pautani, Joachim Nerong, Sempai Samson Benroy, Sempai Brian Sammy and Sempai Karl Guria.
Piskaut
Piskaut further acknowledged his employer Ian A. Chow, chief executive officer for popular biscuit maker Lae Biscuit Company (LBC) and his senior managers Patrick Lam, Christine Santos and Tess Guese for their generous support, plus Anita Schnaubelt from the Mokka group of businesses.
He also made special mention of Australian and highly respected Shihan Cameron Quinn, the director for the IKO Kyokushin Karate for the South Pacific region, who he traveled with including Australian competitors Sempai Ben Ajamian and the McLellan brothers Aaron and Damon, plus ring-side coach Nathan Goodin who were there to witness his special moment.
Piskaut is one of the last of the uchideshi or live in students of world recognized Sensei Walter Schnaubelt that is still keeping the fire burning for the next generation.
Meanwhile fellow senior fighter Sempai Guria, a load master with a rotor wing and fixed wing company will be heading down to the Gold Coast to receive his first dan black belt during the senior black belt grading set for October 12-14.
