Congratulations to Year 11 student Ethan Zhang (Averill) who, on the back of his excellent display at the World Karate Championships in Turkey last year, continued his success on the international karate stage with some excellent performances at the recent Oceania Karate Championships, the Australian Open and the World Karate 1 Youth League competition.
On 5 May, Ethan represented New Zealand when he competed at the Oceania Karate Championships in Liverpool, a suburb of New South Wales, Australia and won gold to defend his Oceania title. This is the third time that Ethan has won the Oceania title in his age group. Ethan dominated his Cadet Male Kumite Under 70kg division with series of impressive performances before beating his New Zealand compatriot Alex Foster in the final, with two Australians finishing third.
A day later, Ethan competed at the Australian Open in the same Cadet Male Kumite Under 70kg division, winning his matches 8-0, 9-1 and 9-1 before beating his Australian opponent Alex Attridge 7-1 in the final. On 7 May, Ethan won a silver medal in the Cadet Male Kumite Open Weight division, losing to Foster in a close bout.
In July, Ethan competed at the World Karate 1 Youth League in Porec, Croatia against some of the top competitors in the world and finished a highly creditable fifth.
Ethan is now ranked sixth in the world in the Cadet Kumite Male Under 70kg division - a huge achievement!
