The 15th Asia Pacific Shito Ryu Karate Do Federation Championships was held from Nov.21 to 25 at Mahaka Sports Mall, Jakarta, Indonesia. The Championship was inaugurated by Sensei Iwan Setiawan, President of Asia Pacific Shito Ryu Karate Do Federation and Sensei Patrick Leung, Secretary General of APSKF.

A total of 450 participants from Japan, Australia, Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, Iran, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Nauru, Dubai, Kuwait, Macau, Hong Kong and hosts Indonesia took part in this prestigious tournament.

The Indian contingent, consisting of 60 participants (42 Male & 28 Female) selected through competition and 15 Officials (Referees, Judges and Coaches) was lead by President of All India Shito Ryu Karate Do Union Shihan C.S. Arun Machaiah, who is also the Vice-President of Karate Association of India and President of Akhila Karnataka Sports Karate Association.

Mysuru’s Deia Urs, who took part in Individual Kata, stormed in the semi-finals by beating Sagynbayeva Akerke of Kazakhstan 5-0 and Clarize Ann of Philippines 5-0, but eventually lost 0-5 to Ai Chi Shih of Chinese Taipei in repechage, who took the bronze.

Marzella S. Damayanti of Indonesia took Gold and Chih Hsuan Hung of Chinese Taipei won the Silver, with Itchi AD Aquino of Philippines taking the other bronze.

But, city girls Deia Urs and Lellian Christina, along with Davanagere girls Malashree and Mallamma, finally managed to win bronze medal for the country in the Senior Female Kumite Category.

In the semi-finals, they lost to Indonesia’s Srunita Sari, Ceyco Georgia, Cok Istri and Agung Inta 2-0 and settled for bronze. Team Indonesia went on to win the gold.

India stood at the 8th place in the overall standings with 2 silver and 12 bronze medals. Indonesia topped the standings, with Japan at second.

At the end of the Championships, city’s Deia Urs in Junior Female Kata Category is ranked 5th in Asia Pacific Region. Daughter of Roopa Urs and Srinath Urs, Deia Urs is trained by her father who is a certified and accredited national Karate coach. Both practice under AISKU President Kyoshi C.S. Arun Machaiah.