2 March 2008
National Karate Championship
The 26th All India Budokan Federation Open Karate Championship held in Vishakapatnam between 5th and 17th February, about 550 participants from Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and also from various states of India attended. The Tamilnadu team with 20 participants trained from Kokino Shitoryu Karate School had ventured in this tournament and won a total of 46 medals with 21 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze. S. Mythili from Tamilnadu bagged the grand championship award in the family category. Sensei L Vijayakumar and Sensei A P Ganesan were selected as the national referee council members. The tournmant was conducted in the presence of Shihan S.Kothandan, the first ever Indian World Medalist in the 2nd World Championship held in Spain in 2007. Sensei S M R Mahendran was the Tamilnadu team coacher. Karate exponent Mr Sumon was the chief guest for the closing ceremony and gave away the prizes to the winners.