Rhane Daly Stevens, a student at École secondaire publique Odyssée, North Bay competed at the World Karate and Kickboxing Commission (WKC) Canadian National Championships this past weekend in Ottawa.
Daly Stevens fought in the 13-15 year old boys category in the -45kg weight class achieving gold in the Continuous sparring division and fourth place in the Point sparring division against provincial competitors from Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Alberta.
Rhane also competed in the 17 and Under Classical Kata division coming in 9th place against 22 competitors, competitors in this division perform the time-honoured patterns of recognized Karate systems from Japan, competitors must perform a recognized unaltered/unmodified Japanese kata, no additions or deletions of movements are allowed.
Competitors who qualify at the provincials are invited to attend the WKC Canadian National Championships. The top four competitors in each division at the National Championships are eligible to attend the WKC World Championships being held in November of this year in Orlando Florida, U.S.A.
This is Daly Stevens's fifth time qualifying for the WKC World Karate Championships, and his second Canadian Championship Title. Rhane brought home bronze last year from the World Championships held in Dublin, Ireland.
Daly Stevens earned his black belt (shodan) in Shotokan Karate in 2013 under Sensei Carmel Rouhani with whom he had trained as a student for over 6 years. Rouhani a former North Bay resident and business owner provided coaching support to Daly Stevens at the event, Carmel also competed in Point Sparring at the event achieving a Silver Medal in the womens division.
Rhane currently practices karate at 3 Fires Martial Arts Academy in North Bay under Shihan Darrell Couchie, and trains with Shifu Jay Guertin at Phoenix Shaolin Wushu Kung Fu Institute. Furthermore Rhane continues to train and fight with the Douvris Martial Arts competitive team from Ottawa, led by Master John Douvris and supported by Carmel Rouhani.
Daly Stevens will join the 100-plus members of Team Canada in facing competition from around the world, with last year's event attracting competitors from 15 countries.
The tournament provides an opportunity to face international competition, but the six-day event also includes seminars and the chance to see other people train and compare techniques.
Daly Stevens continues to train hard and is looking forward to representing Canada at the Worlds in November.
