Held just outside of Ottawa, the Canadian Open is one of the WKC Canadian qualifying events for the WKC world championships. Last year at the WKC worlds, Canada invaded with an army of competitors and this year looked to be no different. If you have ever attended an event run by John Douvris and Michael Bernardo you know that the tournament will start on time and run continually smooth until everything is finished. The 2015 event was held March 28, 2015. The event started with boys elite fighting. Elite fighting featured two rounds of point fighting with one point body kicks. The rules state that you must also win by two points or get a ten point lead over your opponent. Jeremy Francouer lead the pack in the boys under 20 elite fighting earning a well deserved gold medal. Not to be outdone, Corina Balan from Top Ten Kixx battled through the girls under 20 elite fighting to earn gold as well.
Ross Levine was one of a few American invaders to lead things off in the Men’s elite sparring. This division featured a who’s who of some of the top point sparring elite in the game. Some of the featured fighters were: Cody Diesbourg, Fortunato Aversa, Jason Grenier – just to name a few. At the final bell the last fighter left standing was Ross Levine. In the final round, it was teammates Grenier and Levine left for 1st and 2nd. Due to a knee injury that Jason aggravated in the first round of men’s elite he bowed out to Ross and accepted 2nd place.
Impatiently waiting for the guys to get finished, Chelesy Nash showed the men how it was done be ending her first fight with a score of 14 – 3. She continued to blaze through the division and after engaging in a very competitive back and forth battle with Verona Soliman, Nash eventually took the crown for Women’s Elite fighting.
Over in the kata divisions similar battles were being waged. In the elite traditional divisions some of Canada’s finest dueled for bragging rights. In Junior girls Andrea Elaschuk managed to best Marissa Meandro to capture first place. Junior boys saw Raven Wheesk defeat Zachary Ladouceur. Andrea Carey held off Laura Kemp to take the Adult Womens title. Over in Adult Men’s competition Denis Vlachos bested fan favorite Andrew Cabilan. At the end of the day the overall competitor of the tournament was won by Andrea Elaschuk.
Team Impex managed to import some American muscle in Ross Levine to help win team sparing. The Canadian Open was over before 4pm and it ran smooth with little hiccups. The rings ran on time and finished on time with impressive organization. This will be a preview of the martial artists that Canada will ship to Orlando this November to compete in the WKC world games. Other countries should take notice that Canada is ready and bringing it.
