November 19, 2008
More karate, karate, karate.
Wessel (R) with 2008 World Karate Championship double gold medalist, Rafael Aghayev (Azerbaijan, left).
On November 16, Dave and I went to the 19th World Karate Championships in the Nippon Budokan and were able the see the best fighters in the world. We were very lucky to get a chance to go, since the championship is held all over the world and it is only the second time it’s the tournament has been held in Japan.
We arrived at the Budokan around 8:30am and went home around 7:30pm. It was a really long day, but really cool.
A thing that I really liked about the tournament was that the competitors were sitting on the normal seats. Dave and I just sat down somewhere and apparently we were sitting very close to a famous karate competitor from Azerbaijan. A lot of people went to him to take pictures and get autographs. I had no idea who he was, so at first I didn’t do anything.
When I saw him fight I understood what makes in so good. After he got into the finals for -70 kilograms and beat a famous Japanese fighter in semi-finals, I asked him to sign my happy elephant notebook (which I use to study my kanji and math). After he won the finals for -70kg I got a really great picture with him.
It was a really cool day and I'm so glad that I went!
-Wessel