Duo’s success continues in karate
Sydney's rising kumite karate stars Yonatan Freund and Richard Basckin have started 2018 where they left off last year - with success - at last weekend's Australian Open held at Sydney's Whitlam Centre.
SYDNEY’S rising kumite karate stars Yonatan Freund and Richard Basckin have started 2018 where they left off last year – with success – at last weekend’s Australian Open held at Sydney’s Whitlam Centre.
The Jewish duo, who train together at Miyagi Kan Karate centre in Revesby, have slowly but surely risen through the ranks of elite level karate in recent years, culminating in their selection in the Australian team which competed last October in the 2017 Karate Junior Cadet and U21 World Championships in Spain, where Freund finished in the top 16 in the cadet -70kg division.
Freund, 16, achieved his best ever result at an Australian Open, winning two gold medals – one more than he’d won at the 2017 event.
It was an even more impressive result for the 2017 Maccabi Australia Junior Jewish Sportsman of the Year recipient, given he moved up from the cadets to juniors category, and also into the -76kg division, up 6kg from the year before.
His first gold medal came in the junior open competition, where he recovered from a slow start – an unconvincing 1-0 opening bout victory – to bounce back with an 8-0 semi-final triumph against Akira Yamauchi, before narrowly beating Nikolaus Dusterwald 1-0 in the final.
“I was a bit sloppy in the first round in the junior open draw, where you fight others who can be from different weight divisions,” Freund said.
“I knew after the first round that I had to improve if I had any chance, so I was very happy with what I did in the semi and the final.
“That final was very tough, but I was able to score a point towards the end with a good strike to the head.”
The Reddam House student was determined to have a good start in the -76kg event, and did so with a hard-fought 1-0 first round win against a tough opponent in Dayne Carron.
He only improved from there, winning his semi-final 3-0 over Cody Gambin, and the final 4-0 against Zac Dean.
“I was particularly happy with showing consistency all the way through.
“It was my first time in a new age and weight division, and I’d never won two golds at the Australian Open before.
“I’ll now focus on preparing for my next event [the Oceania Championships from May 18-20] and then the Australian National Championships [in August].”
Basckin, 20, won a gold medal in the men’s U21 -60kg division, dominating opponent Irantha Dissanayake in the final, winning 8-0.
He finished the tournament by winning a bronze medal in the men’s seniors -60kg competition, having a 9-1 first round win against Igor Bonkowski before losing his semi-final 0-2 to Thivagar Muralitharran.
Basckin also secured a spot in Australia’s team for the World University Games, which will take place in Kobe, Japan from July 19-22.
SHANE DESIATNIK
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