Two Burnaby North Secondary students pulled off a rare feat at the Karate national championships in Richmond Jan. 17 to 19.
Aya, 15, and 14-year-old sister Cassia Kitaoka won the gold and silver medal, respectively, in the girls’ plus-59 kilogram age group kumite or sparring at the national event.
“They really are close as siblings and what helped them get to the finals was supporting each other,” said Burnaby Karate Academy head coach Sandeep Gill.
“It was really unexpected,” said Aya, who competed at her third national competition. “It was so hard fighting my sister, you get so emotional, and it was her first national.”
But Cassia maintained she had the greater case of nerves.
“ Definitely me. When I was younger, I was a lot better than her in sparring, but she’s gotten better than me,” said Cassia. “I felt proud of myself, getting that far, and then meeting my sister in the finals, that was crazy.”
The two sisters, who have trained with Gill for the past five years, were first introduced to the sport by their mother and karate role model, who was one of the first female black belts in B.C.
“I pulled a big sister move and said, ‘I’m so proud of you,’” said Aya, who also also won a silver medal at her first nationals.
“It’s not the only time we’re going to be in the same division, and that’s a guarantee. I guess I’ll have to work with the way she fights,” Cassia added.
The Kitaokas were two of 18 medal winners, including six national titlists, from the Burnaby academy.
Alexandra Zaborniak, who won a gold medal at the earlier Commonwealth championships, won a bronze medal in the 14/15 girls’ middleweight class and a gold in the 16/17 light heavyweight division.
Jusleen Virk also had a strong showing in the women’s division.
Virk won gold in the under-50 kg group and later took the bronze in the open division after a knee injury forced her to abandon her semifinal bout.
In the open division, which is open to all weight categories, Virk defeated several national champions and a former Pan American heavyweight champion to get to the semifinal.
Brendon Ly won gold in the 16/17 boys’ plus-76 kg, while Isaac Mand won at under-68 kg.
Josh Dhillon won Burnaby’s sixth gold in the 14/15 boys’ lightweight class.
The Burnaby academy’s 18 medals made up half the total of the entire B.C. team and was 13 more than the entire province of Alberta.
Gill says the percentage of competitive fighters at the academy is consistent with numbers nationally.
The difference, he added, was the academy does not over emphasize the competition aspect of the sport.
“Kids develop differently while working on their skills,” Gill said.
Other BKA medallists included Zoe Fong, Vanessa Vung and Anisha Virk winning silver medals, while Derek Chan, Reid Lofstrom, Kyle Macmillan, Gurkamal Gill, Jai Sanghera and Kieren Quan earned bronze.
Victoria Barusic of Burnaby also medalled at the nationals, winning gold in the under-21 female, under-53 kg sparring and placing runner-up in individual kata or forms.
