Sunday, September 05, 2010 02:29 AM
Follow us on
Follow us on
After successfully hosting the Tangkas-Alfamart Badminton Junior Challenge in June, convenience store chain Alfamart is now turning its attention to karate-do.
Alfamart will host the first Asia Pacific Hayashi-ha Shito-ryu Kai Karate Championship and Kobudo Demonstration in Jakarta, the first international event held by a karate school in Indonesia.
Hundreds of karatekas from Asia-Pacific countries are expected to take part in the event, which will
be held in Jakarta from July 31 to Aug. 1, 2010, and showcases 68 categories. They include 25 from
Japan, 54 from Iran, 38 from Malaysia and 20 from Singapore who arrived over the week and more are expected from Sri Lanka and Australia on Thursday evening, the organizers said.
“There are 250 medals up for grabs and as it is a purely amateur competition, there are no cash prizes,” Alfamart managing director Pudjianto said Thursday.
Pudjianto said the program was part of the company’s Alfamart Sahabat Indonesia community support program, which focuses on education, society, arts and culture, environment, sports as well as small and medium enterprises.
“Our sports focus is on badminton, karate, and tennis and we are looking to support weightlifting,” Pudjianto said. “These are sports where [Indonesian] athletes excel but are given little attention.”
The Gabdika Shito-ryu Kai Indonesia has selected 105 of its karatekas around the country to take part in the event, including 14 karatekas who underwent a training program set up by Gabdika and Alfamart.
Pudjianto said his company was planning to groom karatekas. “It’s still only a dream but we have more than 4,000 shops and imagine how many karatekas we would have if every one or two stores has one dojo [practitioner] with 50 karatekas under him,” Pudjianto said.
“Most Alfamart athletes who will take part in the event are employees of Alfamart, from drivers to store attendants. They were selected by Gabdika to take part in the event,” Gabdika Indonesia founder Markus Basuki said.
The Indonesia Karate-Do Association (Forki) will send nine of its second-string training camp athletes to the event. “Our top-tier team will go to Japan in July, while the third and fourth teams will depart for Hong Kong on Tuesday to take part in the Asian Championships,” Forki chairman general Hendardji Supanji said.
“This event is in line with Forki’s aim of promoting the 25 Forki-accredited karate schools. The base of the athletes is the school, not the association,” Hendardji said. ”We hope others schools follow in the steps of Gabdika and host their own international event.”
The event is held in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Hayashi-ha style of Shito-ryu Kai karate and the 41st anniversary of Gabdika Shito-ryu Kai Indonesia.
The event will be held in turn among Asia Pacific countries with Hayashi-Ha Shito-ryu Kai karate schools. Alfamart says it would also provide the competition with a challenge trophy.
Four main discipline of karate are practiced in the 25 schools in Indonesia: Shito-ryu, Goju-ryu, Wado-ryu and Shotokan-ryu.
The Gabdika Shito-ryu Kai Indonesia school teaches the Hayashi-ha style, founded and developed by Teruo Hayashi in Osaka, Japan, in 1970.
Hayashi-ha Shito-ryu Kai Indonesia was founded by Markus Basuki on March 25, 1969.
“Teruo Hayashi was my guru but he formed his own style later because he was too busy with many mandates from his formers gurus,” said Markus, who will be awarded during the weekend event as the first person from outside Japan to have gained an eighth-level Dan.
Gabdika Shito-ryu Kai Indonesia has formed 18 branches in Indonesia including Gabdika Alfamart and some branches in the Central Java Police mobile brigade and the Macan Leuser infantry battalion.
