Kenpo is a martial art that is gaining more and more followers in Lanzarote every day, proof of this was the great reception that the I Kenpo Playa Blanca Tournament had, both from participants and the attending public, held last Saturday and which was organized by the Kenpo Karate Lanzarote academy, where up to 80 athletes between 6 and 15 years of age participated.
The competition, which was directed by Wellington Castro, coach and head of the academy, included the modalities of kata (sequence of movements) individual, kata by teams, point fighting and continuous fighting.
Regarding the kata modality, the winners in the individual category were (order from white belt to green): Paawan Pranay, Eibrand Moya, Alan Batista, Alex Salemi, Abigail Sheriston and Isabel Padierme. While in second position, the athletes were Yasmin Kerman, Celia Cid, Katia Guareño, Dylan Gorozabel, Adán Laarj and Leo Vallejo. The athletes who finished in third position, with a bronze medal, are: Simón Louro, David Marrero, Marc Batista, Manuel Hortet, Ian Tkalec and Davide Vitale.
In the kata by teams modality, the podium was completed by Isabel Padierme and Antony Smith in first position, Tomas Rowe and Ainhoa Aguirre in second place and as third classified, the sisters Celia and Julia Cid.
In point fighting, the champions cup was taken by, also in belts from white to green, Simón Louro, Abigail Sheriston, Alejo Riscart, Alfie Gainford, Emily Aguirre, Fynnton Mcconnell and Marc Batista; while the second place was for Paula Melián, Marianna Lima, Daniel Vallejo, Iker Vara, Ian Tkalec, Ryan O' Connor and Dylan Gorozabel; and the third for Clara Capo, Yasmin Kerman, Elliott Flynn, Antony Smith, Paawan Pranay, Adan Laarj and Alan Batista.
In addition, to end the day, there was a continuous combat exhibition by Athenea Cedrés, Yeiko Boalhosa and Anas Afkir, members of the Espinosa Muay Thai Club, and Lucía Hernández, from the Kenpo Lanzarote School.
Wellington Castro, satisfied with the development of the activity
Wellington Castro was very satisfied with the development of this activity in the southern municipality, in addition to the support received: "we are working well and continuously with the base, here for example, boys and girls from 6 to 15 years old competed and we have noticed that after covid the interest in doing sports has grown. On behalf of the families, I thank the City Council for its support."
This support was ratified by Ángel Lago, Councilor for Sports of Yaiza, during the opening ceremony of the tournament, stating that "the objective is to promote sports to help the integral development of our young people and thus complement the academic activity they carry out in the schools of the municipality, the CEO Playa Blanca and the Institute of Yaiza".
For his part, Óscar Noda, mayor of the municipality, highlighted that "for Yaiza the promotion of sports practice is a priority and we are pleased with the interest of our youngest population in disciplines that do not have the visibility of other sports. The implementation of kenpo and martial arts in general is a reality and that means opening one more window to healthy habits and the transmission of good values".
The Kenpo Karate Lanzarote school offers classes for boys and girls, young people and adults in the different modalities of sports combat, adapted to each age: Semi kenpo (Point fighting), Continuous Kenpo (Light Contact), Kenpo Submission and Full Kenpo, which combines all modalities in one.
Families interested in obtaining more information can go to the academy headquarters located in front of the Natura Palace hotel in Playa Blanca, in the morning and afternoon.
