This weekend, Puerto Vallarta will host for the first time the National Karate Do Championship, which in its XLVIII edition will have competition in its Child, Youth, Senior, Parakarate, and Master 2022 categories, with the participation of more than 300 athletes from different states. The event has the support of the Municipal Sports Council (COMUDE).
During the press conference, the municipal mayor, Professor Luis Alberto Michel Rodríguez, wished luck to the participants of this contest that will begin competition this Friday at 9 AM, in the sports and cultural center La Lija, with free admission to the fans. The final day will be on Saturday.
The president of the Mexican Federation of Karate and Allied Martial Arts, Oscar Godínez Vargas, thanked the support and hospitality of Puerto Vallarta, and stressed that a greater influx of competitors was expected, however, the increase in cases of Covid-19 caused several delegations to cancel their attendance.
However, he stressed that this is the first event of this magnitude in two years and is being held in a paradisiacal place like Puerto Vallarta, which has excellent health security measures.
The president of the Association of Karate Do and Related Martial Arts of the State of Jalisco, Martha Elena Salazar Flores, mentioned that the entity is a power in combat sports, however, “unfortunately the sport has been centralized a lot in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, there are several municipalities where there are very valuable athletes, so the idea of this Association is to go out and look for new talents, this national event seeks to grow the state”.
The goal is to hold an annual combat sports event in Puerto Vallarta, for which there is already interest from various organizations.
Karate Do is a martial art originating in the Okinawa Islands in Japan, and is characterized by the use of the hands and feet to carry out defense actions and subsequent attacks. In the physical aspect, strength, speed, agility, and elasticity are developed. On the mental plane, the capacity for concentration, memory, analysis, and organization is acquired. Emotionally you get security, confidence, and great willpower.
It is important to mention that Karate Do, in addition to being a sports discipline, contains a philosophical foundation of respect, peace, and harmonious coexistence with everything that surrounds us.
The main elements of Karate Do are the kata, which translated into Spanish is defined as form, and the kumite, understood as combat.
The word karate is a combination of two Japanese characters: kara, meaning empty, and te, meaning hand; thus, karate means “empty hand.” Adding the suffix “-do” (pronounced “doe”), meaning “way,” i.e., karate-do, implies karate as a total way of life that goes well beyond the self-defense applications.
