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Coulson Boothe.
Contributed
Three members of the Taneda Karate Dojo represented their country in two karate tournaments in Las Vegas over the Easter long weekend. The two tournaments were the Junior Olympics and the US Open.
For Coulson Boothe, Claire Boothe and Meranda Lloyd, this was their first experience at a major international karate tournament. The tournament saw over 1,200 participants from over 40 different countries from around the world compete in the tournament that lasted over 12 hours for each of the three days.
Coulson competed in the 17-year-old division in the Junior Olympics. Coulson fought very well in his three fights on his way to capturing the bronze medal. Coulson also fought in the 16 to 17-year-old elite division in the US Open. The division had 37 competitors from around the world and Coulson had two difficult fights, winning one and losing one.
Both Meranda and Claire competed in the same divisions. Claire lost her first fight in overtime to the eventual gold medalist in the Junior Olympics, though she had one of her best fights to date.
Meranda had two very tough and close fights. In the dying moments of her second fight she was able to land a beautiful head kick against a fighter from Mexico which gave her three points and the win. With the win she captured the bronze in the Junior Olympics.
In the US Open, Meranda was again matched up against the same girl from Mexico in the bronze medal match. This time Meranda fought smarter and didn’t need the last minute heroics to win. Meranda won bronze in both the Junior Olympics and the US Open.
The team from the Taneda Karate Dojo was coached by Mike Ditson and Owen Lloyd.
Tags: Junior Olympics, karate, las vegas, Taneda Dojo, u.s. open
