News                                   

Team Canada back from Japan             Posted Date: 2008-05-04 21:19:44 On Sat May 3rd, the Russo Dojo came home from the Japan Junior World tournament held in Saitama Japan, with a whole new respect for the world class level of fighting our new Kyokushin-kan organization has. Our 6 Russo Dojo fighters along with 16 Atlantic Canada fighters took the stage to show just what Montreal and the rest of Canada has to offer the world. Over 1120 fighters were present, making the divisions for every kid as big as 50 fighters per division. Peter "Pietro" Ronco, the smallest of the Canadian squad was matched up against a fighter bigger in weight and belt as he battled against a brown belt Japanese fighter. Peter did an amazing job despite the last minute rule changes allowing front kicks and knee kicks to the face and head for the entire tournament, a technique that is highly illegal in our tournaments. Peter lost 2 half points to those front kicks to the face giving the Japanese fighter the win. Adam "A-bomb" Wiltzer fought a beautiful kyokushin bout on the main stage as the highest ranked Russo Dojo fighter. We still do not know how Adam lost a half point and losing the fight, even after viewing the tapes over and over ... I guess the Japanese saw something we did not and gave the Japanese fighter a half point and the win. Vincent "Hit man" Grenada also gave his Japanese opponent all he had from beginning to end and lost due to a half point to a very controversial head kick that barely even touched his head ... the Japanese were very quick to give their fighter the win. Alex "Pit-bull" Dore gave his opponent the fight of his life. Alex had his Japanese fighter running for the hills right from the whistle giving the Japanese fighter a leg kick that would have taken down a bull and kept him running until the Japanese fighter desperately threw himself at Alex and luckily connected with a head kick ... same kick as Vincent ... very light. Alex made such an impression on the Japanese judges, that he was complimented the day after by the Japanese judge due to his powerful fighting style . Mike "Iron Mike" Beauvais, was supposed to fight in the 45 Kg category but was moved up to a category with fighters that weighed as much as 85 kg ... that's almost 185 pounds. Mike went up against a much bigger black belt that ended up taking silver in the division of 41 fighters. Mike put everything he had into the fight, sticking to his opponent like glue and landing text book round house kicks and power punches. Mike injured his elbow during the fight giving the black belt the win. The last of the Russo Dojo fighters was Jansen "Iceman" Trichas who also went up against a massive black belt. Jansen fought hard and strong, showing the world that size means nothing. Jansen was not going down without a fight standing toe to toe exchanging punch for punch, kick for kick, but lost due to those front kicks all of team Canada was not prepared for. Jansen flew home earlier then the rest of team Canada on Tuesday April 29th and still went to compete at the Kanreikai tournament wanting to redeem himself. He did just that by taking gold ... he fought 2 tournaments in 2 weekends. Despite the fact that we were not prepared to fight with those rules and those metal grill helmets, the Russo Dojo still showed the world that Canada is here and we plan to stay for a very long time. All of Team Canada showed true spirit and skill and we are so very glad to be part of an organization that has the skill and high level of fighting I've ever seen. I thank the kids who trained as hard as they did 7 days a week for months without even a complaint, and the parents for allowing me and trusting me to have their kids compete at this world event.You are the reason your kids perform as well as they do. The love, encouragement and confidence you show your kids is what pushes and motivates them to be as strong and as successful as they are. Osu. Go Team Russo.