The 2025 edition of the Okazaki Cup revealed the intentions of many karate fighters who will be on the list of competitors for next year’s big event, the 2026 World Cup.
The main exponents of kumite in shotokan showed their arguments this Saturday on the tatami of the Southeast Central Dojo, under the critical gaze of experts.
Although the essence of shotokan karate is the improvement of the martial art, above competition, this time more than one hundred exponents, of all ages, of both sexes, showed their advances in kata and kumite, in a long day of the Okazaki Cup, a benchmark of this discipline.
After intense face-to-face battles, there were winners, many, but the most important thing for most was to promote harmony and value how much respect between everyone matters.
“That is the feeling we got today,” says sensei Pedro Torre López, director of the Dojo, after the intense session.
Among the older ones, the grips that occurred in kumite were very notable. After the almost silent delivery in katas, the combat was fierce. Among the main winners, Israel Santamaría Chan and Roel Tamayo Aguilar stood out, of whom they hope to be ready for the Shotokan World Cup to be held in Mérida in October 2026.
“We are in the process, it will not be easy, but I think we have the talent to be in the World Cup, more motivated because it will be at home. It is a big responsibility,” commented Tamayo Aguilar, who defeated Héctor Ávila Mena in his category.
Santamaría Chan, at times looking to see his son in green ribbons, was the best in kata and also in kumite, in the latter surpassing Alfonso Peón Ríos in a tough test.
The shotokan party, with several guest dojos from the city, had karatekas from the age of 6 to over 60, such as Ricardo Tejeda García, winner in kumite; Primo Reyes Campos, Ángel Bassol Peraza, Santos García Gench and Marissa Granada Romero.
The event was symbolically inaugurated in a ceremony led by the director of IDEY, Armín Lizama Córdova, with the senseis Torre López, Fernando Quijano Pereira and Manuel Carrillo Sáenz, among other teachers at the main table.
