Local Levi Langham has earned himself more than a few accolades in martial arts over the last few years, and recently the young fighter added to his growing resume with six first place wins in the qualifying event for the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) Australian titles.
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Representing Kempsey/South West Rocks Zenryoku, the 15-year-old high school student competed in the U/18's Elite Division against older and higher ranked opponents.
"It was a great feeling to take out all six combat events; I don't like getting second, I knew I would have to put in to get the results," Langham said.
"It was tough competing in the in U/18's at 15; I was pretty tired and sore by the end."
While a lot of modern martial arts focus on points and demonstrations of pre-arranged moves called Katas, Langham goes out of his way to exclusively compete in practical combat events.
"I don't compete in any of the showmanship events; I just like to go in all the combat ones," he said.
"The kickboxing event is my favourite though; there are no complex rules and I just like hard sparring.
"I do a lot of boxing training, so I tend to favour my fists. Everyone focuses on their kicks too much, and when they're in close, they don't know what to do because they can't kick there."
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Langham started training at the tender age of four, and since starting his martial arts journey all those years ago, he has achieved one of the highest ranks in karate; however, the eager martial artist is still looking for ways to improve his craft.
"I'm hoping to get my Red Dan at the next grading, after that I'm concentrating on preparation for the International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) Australian Titles in Liverpool, Sydney," he said.
"I've only been training in the one discipline of martial arts; Zenryoku Karate. But Zenryoku is mixed martial arts; you learn all forms of combat."
Levi Langhams full results in the qualifying event for the ISKA Australian titles:
- U/18 Continuous Sparring- 1st
- U/18 Kick Boxing- 1st
- U/18 Clash Sparring- 1st
- U/18 Point Sparring- 1st
- U/18 Wrestling- 1st
- U/18 Sword Combat-1st