27.4.2016 / Nitra Cup ( info pack a application form )

Slovakian mission was successful againg

Our school Sonkal has been visiting Slovakia for many years and it was necessary not to break the tradition this year. Unlike former years this tour was a little less large – only 9 competitors.
Before registration, we had a plan to make another historic monuments trip of our eastern ally. The main goal should have been Trenčín or more precisely it´s bulwark but due to traffic jam on the highway meant two hours delay. Because of that we decided to make our trip easier and we drove to Nitra via Bratislava. After a little chaotic registration and checking in for accommodation we had the second task of that day – to feed us up. This task was fulfilled by local mall with abundant offer.

On Saturday morning there was still taking place the registration of some of the late teams in the hall and also checking of categories by particular coaches. Unfortunately, they are not able to manage their job very well so the corrections went on until latest afternoon. After the opening ceremony the contest began. On three rings took place the competition of patterns. As the first contestant of our school was Ondra Faltin, who thanks to the faults of his opponents made it very easily to the final and won the gold medal. Then, followed, the category of red belts, where Honzík Veškrna and also Ondra Faltin by the opportunity of double start presented themselves. In this category they gain the second and the third place respectively.

In junior female blue belt category Aneta Zelinková showed her performance. She did not manage to follow up with her previous success at Czech competition and she lost by the first round. At the double start in red belt category she fought out the bronze medal at least. After this the black belt show of T&T (Tereza Žilinská and Tereza Štekerová) followed. Both girls experienced first final match in second degree black belt category and then they repeated the performance in their first degree black belt category. Both matches won Tereza Žilinská.

To the junior male category we sent two great hopes, Bert Kindl as the representative of red belts and Jirka Novák as the black belt one. In two of those matches Bert had to convince referees that he was truly the best one for at the first attempts the matches ended in draw. But, in the end, it was beautiful gold medal. Bert also experienced the category of first degree black belts but in the semi-final round he lost to Jirka Novák, who won this category with no troubles. Jirka was also competing in the second degree black belt category where he should be competing at World championship in September. He was successful in this category too.

Last two great hopes were just a little bit older – again red belts for Jirka Faltin and black belts for Pavel Zavadil. Jirka dominated his category and repeated the last year first place. Pavel lost to Adam Chlebek in final match of first degree black belts category, but he made for that by winning in category of second degrees black belts.

After lunch, competition of sparring followed. At first as a representative of the lowest weight category started Ondra Faltin, who surprised us very pleasantly. He eliminated his really fierce-tempered opponent by his excellent side piercing kicks. At last he gained gold medal. Honzík Veškrna made up for his patterns competition in sparring contest. He showed really self-confident performance and won the category.

Junior females of our school were competing on opposite sides of weight spectrum. As the first started our frail girl contestant Tereza Žilinská, who made it to the final but there she lost to the opponent from Serbia. Anyhow, it was really good performance and nice second place is counted as a success. Tereza Štekerová knuckled down to her opponents with great vigour and the result was traditional first place. In the evening she added other gold medal from power-breaking contest where was enough the nomination technique.

The junior male sparring contest belonged to Bert Kindl and Jirka Novák again. When I saw the lowest weight categories I was a little afraid of how the higher categories would look like. Those fights had almost nothing to do with light contact. Fortunately my fear didn´t come true and we could see nice matches of both competitors. Speaking of match of Jirka, there were seen his abundant experiences from national team. At the second start in +75 kg category was more difficult the semi-final match then the final one where the opponent suffered from a big respect. Thanks to Bert and Jirka we added three more gold medals to the others.

Jirka Faltin tested his sparring experience against significantly younger opponents. But in his case it was rather about a solid training. Nonetheless, the indomitable spirit of Jirka Faltin deserves a big admiration!

Even though the contest took a little bit longer time due to little number of referees, in the end we can celebrate:
- Jirka Novák – cup for the best junior male
- Tereza Štekerová – cup for the best junior female
- Sonkal – cup for the best school

After all, our score was 15 gold medals, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals. Considering 9 competitors it was a really great deed. 

Our way back home was without troubles and nothing hindered us from visiting KFC in Brno just in time before closing and then dashing through snow towards Prague. The last shock was a fox just a few meters before our vehicle. We arrived at Černý Most at 01:30 a.m. which was a signal to our Sleeping Beauties they should to their beds.

Nitra Cup 2016 was very successful for Sonkal and already now we can look forward the 11th year.