After we recapped the women’s division of individual kata, let’s go through the men’s category! And now I can fully say….Oh Boy what an array of upsets! A few I predicted in a post before the worlds but some I didn’t quite believe would happen.
Now I’ve been following Ariel Torres Gutierrez for a while, and I did think he had a chance to get a medal, but there were still some big obstacles to get over. But thank God he did not give a damn what I thought.
41.5 and 41.3 Kururunfa and Anan in the openings already showed me that team USA is getting more and more serious with their camps and training and are about to make an impact. A 41.7 Ohan Dai did not get him the final, so he had to duke it out with Egypt’s Ghaly Karim Waleed. And the gentlemen made it a battle, with Ariel winning 43.2/42.4. Egypt and USA could surprise us in the upcoming events.
Kakeru Nishiyama has been around for a while but hasn’t been given much chance to shine on the big stage. He made noise winning the Asian championships in 2022 but still, no medal at the worlds. So he started off with a 39.7 Kururunfa in the opening round but immediately skyrocketed with a 42.8 Papuren in round two. But even a 43.3 Chibana No Kushanku didn’t get him to the finals. So he battled it out with Italy’s Mattia Busato for the bronze. Now Mattia already has four bronze medals from the worlds, so logic would say that since Kakeru has none of them Mattia is the favorite. Not just for that, Mattia had chances to get to the finals realistically as well. But Kakeru beat him with a 44.4/42.9 Suparinpai (imagine those scores in a bronze medal match).
The Japanese have themselves a great new generation that will bring kata to another level.
And then there came on the two lions that I somehow knew will meet in the final. It’s one of those feelings you get when you know what’s on.
Quintero, who was my personal favorite to win this year’s worlds, just started out strong in the opening rounds with the best grades in his two pools, with a 41.9 Kururunfa and a 43.2 Suparinpai in the next round. Sofuoglu Ali started out a little bit lighter with a 41.6 Unsu and KankuSho. Then came the time to bring out the big guns, and the boys did!
Quintero beat Gutierrez with a 43.1/41.7 Anan Dai, while Sofuoglu did the same by beating Japan’s Kakeru Nishiyama with a smashing 43.5/43.3 GojushihoDai. At that point, everybody felt the jitters knowing that the absolute best would compete for the world title.
Sofuoglu did manage to beat Quintero at the 2021 and 2022 European championships, but Damian beat him three times before that and got the title back this year, so I thought that Damian being so many times in the world finals is the favorite. Nonetheless, I somehow did know that this match would be probably the closest of all the katas. And boy was I right!
Outside the grades being a stunning 45.6/44.5 even they don’t mean (fill in the blank on Your own please) when the heat came on!
Damian started the match with Ohan Dai, and I have to say I have never seen a kata performed by him that wasn’t sharp and intense, and this time it was no different! I firmly believe that this is the best Damian Quintero that got out on the tatami. Literally every, every move was on point with immense power, speed, precision and intensity that even the ones that mock kata would lay back and watch with admiration. Every move was done with intent and spirit. He is an inspiration, and if you want longevity boys and girls, and by that I mean getting better by the years take a lesson from this gentleman here. This man is pushing 40, has a family and is again in the world finals, and just gave his best performance ever!
After that it was Ali’s turn, but something happened. The moment he shouted out GojuShihoSho (an old school Shotokan kata that had not been in the world finals for a while), you could see a slight smile on his face. See most top kata players in their expressions want to get through a fight against an imaginary opponent. Ali in his expression didn’t want just that, he wanted to win that fight against that imaginary opponent. It’s like looking your demon in the eyes, on his territory in hell but smiling literally knowing he’s going down!
Every move, attack, block, change of direction was done with that smile and confidence, every move chipped away a part of that demon! Ali was conquering his! And I could feel it! He brought something else to the table on top of his performance, he made that imaginary fight personal! And he won!
I think we can all learn from him, and that this kata was more than just a kata! It was a fight for his self-actualization, for his autonomy, for him!
Thank You gentlemen! Thank You Ali Sofuoglu!