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A Karate team from New Ireland traveled to Port Moresby to participate in the 2023 National Karate Championships on June 11th and 12th at the Taurama Aquatic and Indoor Complex (TAIC).
The team had a few weeks of preparation before coming to participate.
New Ireland Karate team leader Byron Chan said the team was privileged to also take part in the last Taekwondo National Championships in Port Moresby.
They were also excited to attend the National Karate Championships.
Three of our fighters missed out on selections in the Taekwondo Championships, so we have a development squad here in Port Moresby to compete in the Karate championships and hopefully some of them can make the karate squad to represent PNG in the 2023 Pacific Games in Solomon Islands.
Byron Chan
He said the team came from three different clubs in New Ireland and represent different karate styles.
They represent different styles from different clubs, but today we are fighting together for New Ireland.
He said there are more than 300 fighters in New Ireland and there are three different clubs in the two districts of Kavieng and Namatanai. Unfortunately only a few from the development squad came for the championship.
Our objective for this event is to get some champions here; our guys proved to be pretty good and were able to represent the province and country and at the same time builds up the sport of karate and martial arts in the province.
Byron Chan
Nowadays, there is a lot of temptation with alcohol and drugs and I think karate and all this discipline sport may be the way forward.
